The Ghost of Ochs
by WillyFourEyes
Summary: When Flayn was rescued from the Death Knight, a second hostage was found at the scene - a former Academy student named Monica. Believed to have been left for dead, Monica befriends the green-haired healer as she hopes to get her life back on track. [Real!Monica AU, academy phase, no specific route]
1. Alive and Getting Well Soon

**Author's Foreword (updated 2/16/2020):** So, um...it looks like I can't add Monica to the "Characters" list of this story on for pretty significant game-spoiler reasons. There _is _a "Monica von Ochs" tag on the Archive of Our Own version of this story to let you know that, yes, this character _does_ exist, and she is rather important (to this story, at least). The "Flayn" character tag is still up there as she is one of Monica's friends and confidants, though with not quite as big a role as I thought I would have given to her at first. Sorry about that.

* * *

The girl with the crimson hair was fast asleep, not knowing where she was, or what was happening around her. The ground she was sleeping on was incredibly uncomfortable...not that she could toss and turn if she wanted to.

Was she going to die?

Was she already dead?

That couldn't have been right. She could still breathe, if very shallow breaths. She could barely make out other voices in her vicinity. They were holding conversations about her physical and mental state, and whether or not to proceed with the Battle of the Eagle and Lion in light of recent events.

A moment later, a gentler, softer voice whispered into her ear.

"Please, be still."

There was nothing else she could do. If she had the strength to get up again, chances were good that her captors would find her and kill her for real. She simply laid back and hoped that the person talking to her wasn't with the enemy.

"They cannot hurt you anymore. You are safe now."

Her body was starting to get warm again. She could raise and lower a finger on her right hand. Maybe two, with a little bit of effort. It wasn't enough to really do anything, but it was enough to assure her and her rescuer that she wasn't dead.

After a few minutes, she was able to lift her whole hand, then her arm. She still lacked the strength to open her eyes, and she feared that flailing about to find out who was treating her might interrupt the healing process.

Suddenly, she stopped breathing. Something had clamped onto her mouth and was pushing down on her really hard. Too weak to scream, she continued to lie in place as she felt someone else's breath rushing into her.

This process of shared breathing, chest compressions, and body warming went on for a few more cycles until the girl's eyes blinked open. She could see another girl's face on top of hers, still breathing life into her, or kissing her, or whatever it was she was doing.

However, her rescuer didn't look like anyone she vaguely remembered from her days at the Officers Academy in Garreg Mach. This girl had bright mint-green hair and eyes, and an innocence that suggested she might be too young to be a student.

"Oh, wonderful! You have awakened! I was so worried about you, Monica!"

The girl named Monica slowly rose from the bed she was sleeping on, her back feeling stiff. After hacking and coughing out all the stale air from her lungs, she clutched onto her rescuer and took a moment to examine her surroundings. "Oh, my Goddess...what in the world happened?" she yelped. "Who are you? And how do you know my name?"

"My name is Flayn," said the green-haired healer. "I heard about you from my older brother. It appears that we were both targeted by the Death Knight. Your recovery took a bit longer than mine, so I came to check on you and accelerate the process. Manuela, the woman in charge of this infirmary, also had a run-in with the Death Knight and is unavailable right now."

"How could this have happened?" Monica groaned. "This is not how I envisioned my last days at the academy to be... At least we're both out of enemy territory now, right? Thank you for saving me, Flayn. You're a real saint, you know that?"

"Well, um...I do not think I would go _that_ far..."

Flayn laughed nervously. She was surprised to hear anyone call her that. To everyone else in Garreg Mach, she was merely Seteth's younger sister, giving her a direct connection to the heads of the Church of Seiros. Because of her brother's overprotective streak, she was never kept in the loop on any of their plans, and the entire campus went on a frantic search mission to retrieve her from the clutches of the Death Knight and the Flame Emperor's soldiers. The students and the Knights of Seiros banded together to drive off the alleged kidnappers, whose motives remained a mystery. The only clue to the identities of the perpetrators was a white mask worn by Jeritza, a weapons trainer at the Officers Academy who disappeared around the same time as Flayn. Monica was also found during the successful rescue mission, but church officials knew less about her since she disappeared from the academy a year before Flayn's kidnapping.

Monica heard her stomach growling. She felt like she hadn't eaten or drank anything in ages. She started to get up from her bed, but Flayn held out a hand, preventing her from moving further. "Please, do not get up," Flayn insisted. "I will go out and ask my brother to bring us some food and drink."

"But what about you, Flayn?" asked Monica. "You really shouldn't be moving around a whole lot, either."

"I will be fine. I shall return in a moment. Do you promise to wait for me?"

Before Flayn stepped out the door, she lightly rubbed Monica's hands to lend her some more warmth. It was the most pleasant sensation Monica had felt in the short time after waking up from her blackout. She tried to return the gesture in kind, drawing a shape of unknown origin on Flayn's palm with her thumb.

"I promise," said Monica.

Monica sat back down on the bed, waiting anxiously for her food. One of Manuela's assistants entered to check on her, giving her a spoonful of a vulnerary to finish what Flayn had started. As she choked down the bitter healing potion, she came to understand why people studied healing magic at the academy. Monica remembered wanting to study it herself, but her father, the baron of the Imperial noble house of Ochs, thought her talents would be better utilized learning the sword and lance. It was a shame that "avoiding ambushes" was not part of the academy's curriculum. All the swordsmanship and spearmanship in Fódlan felt useless when faced with an enemy who outnumbered her nine-to-two and dragged her off to Goddess-knows-where for Goddess-knows-what without giving her a chance to fight back.

Flayn returned with a tray containing a bowl of fruit slices and a glass of orange juice. Standing behind her was a man with hair and a beard that were a darker shade of green than Flayn's. _This must be Flayn's brother,_ Monica thought. _He looks a bit too old to be...no, no, no. I'm probably just imagining things._

"Brother, this is the other young woman who was discovered in the cavern along with me," said Flayn to the man.

Monica happily took the food tray and began eating from it. Her captors had likely only given her enough sustenance to survive, so having a chance to eat _anything_ with some sort of flavor was more than welcome.

"It seems she is beginning to recover nicely," the man replied. "Well done, Flayn."

He turned his attention to Monica, giving her the look of a concerned father about to break down in tears. "You must be Monica von Ochs. I am Seteth, chief advisor to archbishop Rhea. We were not expecting to find you in the same cavern as Flayn, but we are glad that you have returned to us all the same. How are you feeling?"

"A little better," said Monica, "thanks to your sister."

"Good. We hope to re-integrate you with the student body once you are fully recovered, and allow you to work toward completing your education," said Seteth.

"I appreciate your help, Seteth-I mean, sir-I mean...ugh."

Monica couldn't believe how badly she botched her greeting. She had always been taught to treat those in authority with respect, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.

"Er...confusion over proper forms of address aside," said Seteth, "I believe it would be best to not let any of the other students see you for a while."

"Why?" asked Monica.

"It turns out that your father, Baron Ochs, had given up searching for you a few moons after your initial disappearance. As far as your house is concerned, Monica...you are legally dead."


	2. Maybe I'm a Ghost

_EDIT 2/19/2020: Fixed a line in Monica's thoughts in paragraph 9 that would possibly create a plot hole in later chapters. The line at the end now reads "...would it even reach him..." instead of "...would it even get to House Ochs..."_

* * *

"My father thinks I'm _dead?!_"

Seteth's revelation hit Monica's heart with the force of a volley of arrows. For all the time she had gone missing and the crippling darkness she found herself in, she may as well have been dead.

"Yes, I am afraid so, Monica," said Seteth.

Monica could barely think or see straight as she spoke. "But can't I-can't _you_ or Lady Rhea convince him that I'm alive?"

"We will do the best we can. Now is not the time for irrational decision-making. Please wait there for a little while longer and someone will check on you. Flayn, come with me."

"Yes, Brother," said Flayn. She followed him for a few steps, pausing when she got to the door of the infirmary and waving to Monica.

Several minutes after Seteth and Flayn left to speak with Lady Rhea, another assistant came in to run a battery of physical and mental tests on Monica. She recoiled when the assistant tried to test her for poisons and other bloodborne diseases. It made her think back to those days underground when her tormentors would prod, poke, and pick at her flesh, never telling her exactly what they were doing, or why they specifically needed _her_ as a test subject. Monica also worried about what they might have done to Flayn in her time in captivity. When Flayn smiled at her when she first awakened after their rescue, Monica sensed a bit of emptiness to it...like a part of Flayn had been stolen. She thought they might have sought out Flayn for her rare healing abilities. Monica didn't have any of that. She was just a normal rich girl who was good with weapons and world history. Why was _she_ chosen?

The assistant collected his findings and left Monica alone in the infirmary to think about what to do next.

_I need to let my father know I'm okay. He's probably been crying himself to sleep for days now. Weeks, even! If only I could write a letter to him...but would it even reach him without getting stolen?_

Monica threw her hands in the air and flopped back onto the bed. Sitting around and waiting for answers was getting her nowhere. She wanted to get up and out and talk to _someone_, even if Seteth told her to wait. Most of all, she wanted to see Flayn again.

After shaking out some of the cobwebs from her head, Monica got up and began walking out of the infirmary. She didn't consider herself good at sneaking around, but her shoes didn't make a lot of noise when she walked. She peered around the corner leading to the audience chamber, hoping not to see Seteth along the way. What she saw around that corner was far more imposing...

It was Lady Rhea, the archbishop herself.

Dressed in an extravagant white robe and an equally opulent headpiece, Rhea gave off the appearance of an angel descended from the heavens. Monica thought she looked like she could be Flayn's mother.

Rhea smiled and chatted with some of the students and monks, who all bowed as she walked past them. Monica was intimidated by how much power and respect the archbishop commanded. Would she even be able to approach someone that influential without stumbling over herself the way she did with Seteth? She would soon find out when Rhea caught her trying to walk back to the infirmary.

"May I help you?"

Monica, seeing the other monks bowing in Lady Rhea's presence, did the same. "Yes, Lady Rhea," she said, trying to stir up as much confidence as humanly possible. "My name is Monica, and-"

"Monica? As in Monica von Ochs?" asked the archbishop. Even her voice was motherly and comforting.

"Yes, that's right! Did Seteth tell you about me?"

"He did. He told me that you and Flayn survived a harrowing ordeal in that cavern. Your recovery also seems to be progressing rather quickly."

"So why can't I go back to join my old class?"

"The school year is already halfway over. It will take a bit of time to do the work necessary to bring you back into the fold."

Rhea and Monica stopped to look out of the momentary gap in the front door. There was no light shining through the many stained glass windows of the monastery's upper level, so Monica assumed it was nighttime. _Oh, Goddess! How long was I out?_

"However, we will need to wait until the morning to deal with that," Rhea continued. "For the moment, you should get some rest. Be calm and sleep well tonight, my child."

"Thank you, Lady Rhea," said Monica. "I will try."

Monica went back to lay down on her cold, hard infirmary bed. She had been "resting" all day, but this was the first chance she had to try to get some genuine sleep. She yawned and closed her eyes, adjusting herself and her pillow to try to find the best sleeping position.

As she drifted off to sleep, she began to make plans. Tomorrow would be her first full day since returning to Garreg Mach, and she was certain she would be forced to spend it under the watchful eyes of Rhea and Seteth. Monica knew they were only looking out for her safety, but she didn't like the idea of being confined to one area of the monastery. She wanted to see _all_ of it. She wanted to see how much, if anything, had changed in her absence.

Her sleep was interrupted by the infirmary door opening behind her.

"Monica? Monica!" a voice whispered.

Monica turned around to see Flayn, carrying a sleeping bag in her hands. She was hard to see in the darkened room, but there was just enough light from the candles outside that Monica recognized her braided hair.

"Flayn? What are you doing here?" asked Monica.

"I could not bear the thought of leaving you to sleep alone tonight," said Flayn, "so I have come here to accompany you."

"Thanks, Flayn. Why the sleeping bag, though? Don't you have a bed of your own you normally sleep in?"

"Yes, but those are quite difficult to move around the monastery unnoticed."

That made sense to Monica, even if it was Flayn's attempt at a joke.

"Um...I was ready to go off to sleep," said Monica, "but I'd like to talk for a few minutes, if you don't mind."

Flayn shut the door behind her and brought her sleeping bag to the foot of Monica's bed. "Of course, my friend. What is it that troubles you?"

Monica flipped around and rested her feet on her pillow so she could see Flayn's face more closely. She was so happy to be able to move around freely again, and she owed it all to the girl in green. "So, um...your brother...he told me that my father thinks I'm dead."

"That cannot be," said Flayn. "You are talking with me right now."

"I know that," said Monica. "For a little while, it felt like I actually _had_ died. But I'm wondering...if I'm not 'legally alive', but I'm still 'technically alive', does that make me some kind of...ghost?"

"A ghost?! Monica, you should not make light of such things!"

Monica could just barely see Flayn's shocked expression in the low lighting. "Sorry...it was just a thought, that's all. Seriously, though...I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for all your help."

"I appreciate your kind words," said Flayn. "In truth, it is thanks to the efforts of the students and the Knights of Seiros that you and I are still here today."

Monica couldn't remember how long ago it had been since she was captured. The last thing she saw and heard down in that cavern was a pale-faced woman taunting her...calling her "weak" and "pathetic"...telling her that no one would care if she were to die. She didn't want to believe that was the case. Monica thought she _had_ friends back then, but nobody seemed to notice when she went missing.

_Maybe that awful zombie woman was right. Maybe they weren't really my friends anyway. That's fine, though...I'll just have to make some _new_ friends...like Flayn. She'll be there for me. We got out of that dungeon together, so getting through the rest of this school year together should be easy...I hope._

Monica made up her mind. She would have to meet some of these new students and knights.

"Hey, Flayn," she whispered. "Want to take a tour of the campus with me tomorrow morning?"

"But my brother said-"

"I know what Seteth said. Besides...does he know _you're_ here right now?"

"No..."

"Then you've got nothing to worry about. You're safe and sound, I'm safe and sound, and if we need help, we'll just ask one of the guards. Don't think of it as 'sneaking around'... We'll just be 'going out for some fresh air'."

Monica also realized that she would have to leave the infirmary bed behind anyway. If someone else got sick and she was still using it, then where would _they_ rest?

"If that is your wish," said Flayn, "then I hope you will allow me to be your guide."

"Excellent! I'll be ready first thing in the morning," said Monica. She wanted to figure out how Flayn used her "warming hands" trick, but for the moment, she was content with giving her new friend a soft hug before swinging back around to her original sleeping position. "Good night, Flayn."

"Good night, Monica."


	3. Materialization

_EDIT (5/14/2020): __Updated a few lines from Seteth in the letter-writing scene to correct references to the Officers Academy being a one-year school instead of a two-year school._

* * *

The next morning, Monica woke up in a puddle of sweat. The combination of the blanket and the clothes she had been wearing prior to her discovery caused her to overheat.

While she was wide awake and ready to get her day started, Flayn was still fast asleep. Monica thought she looked so cute and comfortable wrapped up in her sleeping bag. There was no way she could approach Flayn and wake her up while she smelled of sweat and dungeon musk. A soothing bath and a change of clothes were in order.

Monica called for one of Manuela's aides to change the sheets on her bed and give her directions to the girls' bathroom. Once she found it, she scrubbed herself down to rinse as much dirt from her body and hair as possible. Flayn's healing abilities were good, but there was only so much she could do with them. Monica could still see a bunch of stab wounds, cuts, and bruises on her arms and legs from her struggle with her captors. Those weren't as easily hidden by drinking a vulnerary or a more potent healing concoction.

Monica put on the change of clothes she had been given and put her old clothes in a basket to be washed later. The all-white slacks and top didn't make her stand out from the monks and soldiers patrolling the building, but at least they gave her something to wear until she received her proper academy uniform. She looked at herself in the mirror and wished she had asked someone to braid her hair into the double buns she used to have...that way _someone_ might have recognized her.

Flayn was just starting to wake up when Monica returned to the infirmary. Her sleeping bag was laid out on the floor, and she almost tripped over it trying to meet Monica at the front door.

"Good morning," she said after a long yawn. "Why did you not wake me up?"

"I'm sorry," said Monica. "I needed to take a bath and I didn't want to bother you while you were still asleep. I was going to come back to get you. Honest!"

Flayn rolled up her sleeping bag and tucked it under her arm. "Before we head out to explore the monastery, you should probably speak with my brother. I am sure he has some questions he wishes to ask of you."

"Yeah, I know. Are you going to stick around? I am going to need your help after this, you know."

"I will wait for you downstairs once you are finished. Meet me in the cathedral by the four Saint Statues."

Monica remembered the names of the Four Saints well - Cethleann, Cichol, Indech, and Macuil. They had statues built in their honor in a chamber behind the altar, but the statues had fallen into serious disrepair over the years. She wanted to see what they looked like after they were fully restored.

After parting ways with Flayn, Monica walked to the audience chamber, no longer worried about bumping into Rhea or Seteth, for they were precisely the people she wanted to speak to.

"Good morning to you, Monica," said Seteth. "I hope last night treated you well."

"Well enough, I guess," said Monica.

"I'd like for you to step into my office for a few moments."

Monica nodded. "Yes, sir."

She followed Seteth into the side room of the central audience chamber where he presented Monica with a copy of her original personnel record, containing everything from her home address to the grades she had earned in previous semesters. "Is there anything you wish to have changed or updated on this card?" he asked.

"No...everything looks fine," she said. "Um...do you know if my father has tried to contact the church recently? I know it's been a while since I was last here, but he can't have written me off completely!"

"Unfortunately, we still have not heard anything from House Ochs or any of the surrounding houses. We will try to get in touch with your father today to let him know that you are safe. If you wish to write a letter to him yourself, I suggest that you do so now, and I will send it to him along with ours."

Seteth handed Monica a blank sheet of paper and a quill pen and ink, but she didn't start writing anything down for she had a feeling he still had more to say.

"As far as your education is concerned...you were in the last month of your school curriculum before your graduation. Given the circumstances, Lady Rhea and I do not believe it would be fair to force you to return home and start all over due to an incident that was not entirely your fault. However, this upcoming month is the annual Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Because you have been absent for the first months of the school year, you are forbidden from participating in it."

Monica groaned, lamenting the unfairness of her situation. _It's not like I suddenly forgot how to properly wield a sword when I got captured_, she thought.

"In accordance with Officers Academy tradition," Seteth continued, "as a resident of the Adrestian Empire, you will be allowed to return to the Black Eagle house in one week's time."

"Great! Who's going to be my house leader this year?" Monica wondered.

"You will be housed with Edelgard von Hresvelg. She is the next in line to inherit the Imperial throne."

"Whoa! I'm going to be in the same house as _the_ Princess?"

Monica was overjoyed. Having someone of such high prestige in her house was sure to make getting her missing credits a lot easier. She fantasized about Edelgard being a girl of unparalleled strength, intellect, and beauty - and certainly a world apart from the _last_ person to lead the Black Eagles: an arrogant idiot of a girl whose pushy behavior and lack of desire to learn proper field tactics caused their house to suffer its most humiliating defeat in Monica's only Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

"What about my instructor?" asked Monica.

"Your house is currently being taught by a young woman who was hand-picked by Lady Rhea herself," said Seteth. "Little is known about her background except that she is the daughter of Captain Jeralt, a former knight of ours. She has proven to be quite popular among the students here. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two from her."

"I'm looking forward to it."

At that moment, Monica thought about what she was going to write to her father as Seteth continued his lecture. She was embarrassed that her handwriting had become sloppy, with pools of ink forming after every other sentence.

* * *

_Father...I'm safe now._

_The Church of Seiros came to my rescue and is watching after me. I still think about all the time I missed while I was in captivity, always wishing I had been strong enough to stop the ones who attacked me. I'm going to finish what I started when you sent me here, and I'll leave Garreg Mach as an honorable warrior and scholar worthy of carrying the Ochs family name. I promise I'll be strong for you, for Fódlan...and for myself._

_Your precious jewel,_

_Monica_

* * *

Monica folded up the letter and handed it to Seteth. She had no idea how long it would take to reach home, but she hoped that this small gesture would be enough to put the baron's heart at ease.

"Thank you. Now, I am sure that you are anxious to look around the premises," said Seteth, "so Lady Rhea and I have arranged for you to meet with a tour guide downstairs shortly after this session."

"Oh, but I already have one," said Monica.

"I anticipated that...so I selected someone who knows the area well and would be a perfect mentor for you."

_There goes _that_ idea_, Monica thought. _I guess I shouldn't blame him for not wanting his sister and I to travel around the school by ourselves after what happened to us, but...can't he just relax a bit?_

"Who is this tour guide going to be?" she asked.

"You will meet them soon enough," he replied, closing his eyes and looking away. "I assume that Flayn is also waiting downstairs for you. Please do not let any further harm befall her."

"You have my word."

Monica headed downstairs to the chapel area and spotted Flayn standing off to the side, facing the Saint Statue chamber and deep in prayer. Standing next to her was a blond-haired girl about Monica's height, wearing a standard Officers Academy uniform. She was also looking at the statues, but not praying to them.

Monica approached the two girls cautiously and tried to get their attention.

"Hi, Flayn! I'm done!"

Monica succeeded only in breaking Flayn's concentration and causing the girl next to her to jump and stand at attention.

"Whoa! You scared me," said the blonde. "You should be careful when sneaking up on people."

"Sorry..."

Flayn turned around, clasping her hands together. "Oh! Monica! Were you able to get everything you needed from my brother?"

"Yeah," said Monica. "The only thing I need now is a new uniform."

The uniformed student stood back and scanned Monica. If she knew she was going to be inspected by other students after waking up, she would have asked for fancier clothes. "Ah, so you must be the other missing girl the knights were talking about the other day," said the girl.

"Yeah...that's right. Are you going to be my tour guide?"

"And Flayn's, too. I'm Ingrid Brandl Galatea."

Monica shook Ingrid's outstretched hand with a smile. "Monica von Ochs. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise. You're from the Empire, right? That means you'll be joining the Black Eagles soon. I'm from the Kingdom of Faehrgus, so I'm in the Blue Lions house, but I hope we can still get along."

Monica was disappointed that she would not be shown around by her soon-to-be house leader, but she quickly understood why Rhea and Seteth had chosen Ingrid. She had the attitude and dignity of a knight twice her age.

"I am ready to go when you are," said Flayn.

"Me too," said Monica. "I can't wait to get out of these clothes."


	4. Old Haunts

Monica and Flayn followed Ingrid as she led them around the chapel, walking around students engaged in prayer and singing hymns to the goddess.

"I know it's been a while since you were last at the academy, Monica," said Ingrid, "so feel free to stop me if any of this is already familiar to you."

"No, no...it's fine, Ingrid," said Monica. "I was actually looking to take a walk, anyway."

Ingrid pointed to a priest standing next to a mailbox in one corner. "This is the confession booth. Students usually leave notes here when they have something heavy weighing on their minds, and one of the teachers will come along and write a response. Everything is totally anonymous, so you don't have to leave your name if you don't want to."

"I don't remember seeing this when I was here before. Do you know if anyone's ever used the booth to ask for answers to difficult test questions?"

"It's possible. Usually, the priests throw out anything they might see as a joke or prank, though."

Monica had a stinging feeling that she had a lot of questions to ask, so she tried to remember the confession booth's location for later.

Ingrid led them out the front door and toward the great bridge that connected the cathedral with the main part of the campus. There were deep canyons on both sides, and anyone who leaned too far over the stone parapets was certain to fall to their death. Monica tried to stay as close to the center of the bridge as possible to avoid such a fate.

"The view from here is amazing!" she said, standing in awe as a wyvern with majestic brown wings soared over the cliff. "I'll bet the view from above is even more impressive. Don't you think so too, Flayn?"

"Indeed", said Flayn.

Monica turned to Ingrid as they reached the other end of the bridge. "What do you think, Ingrid?"

"Personally," said Ingrid, "I don't really like wyverns that much. They're really creepy-looking and hard to keep under control, even when you remember to feed them. I've always wanted to learn to fly, though. That's why I'm studying hard to become a pegasus knight."

"A pegasus knight, huh? That sounds so cool!"

"I would also like to ride on a pegasus one day," said Flayn. "They are such graceful and noble creatures."

Ingrid's eyes lit up with excitement knowing Flayn shared her enthusiasm about pegasi. "Aren't they?"

They went through the large double doors of the building across the bridge, leading them to a large hallway with tables arranged in rows. "This is the meeting hall," said Ingrid. "Sometimes they hold big events in this hallway, but it's usually used as a place for the students and knights to relax between classes. There's a cemetery off to your left, and a training arena to the right."

"Let's check out the training arena," said Monica. "I can't wait to get my hands on a weapon again."

"Slow down there, Monica. You'll get your chance."

Ingrid led them toward the training arena. "If you go up these stairs," she said, "you'll find the boys' and girls' bathrooms. They just recently installed a sauna here, too. And off to your left, you'll see the first-floor student dorm rooms. There are more on the second floor."

Monica looked around in the courtyard and noticed that there were far more uniformed students than rooms to sleep in. Many of them must have lived close to the monastery in places like Varley, or Airmid, or the Oghma Mountains. It would have been very inconvenient - not to mention expensive - to have commuters from all over Fódlan without building another dormitory or offsite sleeping area. She hoped that there was enough space for her to have her own room.

"What about that building down there?" she asked, pointing down the hill. "That's the greenhouse, right?"

"Yes," said Flayn. "I like to visit there from time to time to observe the flowers. I hear that the gardener also accepts donations of seeds, and she will plant them for you until they are fully grown."

Monica hoped that someone would give her a nice flower to put in her new room. Perhaps a carnation or a tulip would be a good piece to put on display...something that would go well with the color of her hair.

"Over here to your left," said Flayn as their group walked past the greenhouse, "there is an area where you can go fishing. Many species of fish native to Fódlan come through this stream, including some very rare ones!"

"Fishing, huh? There aren't a lot of lakes in the mountains where I grew up," said Monica, "so I've never had the chance to fish before."

"The dining hall is also in this area," said Ingrid, pointing to the building up the stairs to the left. "I love the food here, especially the smaller meals you can just pick up and eat on the go."

The rest of Monica's tour of Garreg Mach took her past the market, the stables, the knight's hall, and the graveyard before returning her to the second floor of the cathedral. The layout of the campus was so confusing that she felt like she would need a map just to get out of her room. "We're back to where we started," she said, "but I feel like we're missing a few things."

"As far as I know, the only other two points of interest are the library off to the left," said Ingrid, "and Captain Jeralt's quarters to the right. You should stop in and say hello when you have the chance."

"Jeralt...he's the father of my new professor, isn't he? Do you think I'll get to meet her soon, too?"

"The professor has been very busy lately, what with all the bandits running about, and that business with the Western Church a few months ago. I don't know if she's returned yet."

"Oh...okay."

Monica saw Rhea approaching from the distance, talking to Seteth and one of the Knights of Seiros along the way. Ingrid saw this as her cue to return to her class. "I think that's it for our tour," she said. "Good luck to you, Monica."

"Thanks for showing us around, Ingrid," said Monica.

"It was my pleasure. I'll see you around!"

Ingrid shook hands with Monica and Flayn before heading downstairs, leaving them to chat with the archbishop.

"Good morning, Monica...Flayn," said Rhea.

"Good morning, Lady Rhea," the two girls said.

"I hope that your return tour of the campus was enlightening, Monica."

"Oh, yes! Ingrid was such a gracious guide," said Monica. Flayn nodded in agreement.

"I have spoken with Seteth, and we both agree that it would be improper to keep you in the infirmary for the duration of your stay at Garreg Mach. Therefore, we have arranged a new room assignment for you on the first floor. It was being used by your new professor when she moved in because we were running low on space for the teachers, but she has agreed to relocate to Captain Jeralt's room."

"What about Flayn? Where's she going to stay?"

"She will remain here, under the supervision of the Knights of Seiros. I had proposed adding her to one of the houses, but Seteth shot down that idea, as she is not a student here."

"Brother..." Flayn grumbled.

"Please remain here for now. We will get you fitted for a new uniform, and then you will be able to rejoin your fellow students. May the goddess watch over you."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Monica asked Flayn to accompany her for her school uniform fitting. She looked at Flayn's long, twisted braids and wondered how well she could braid her hair.

"I think your hair looks nice as it is," said Flayn as she brushed Monica's long, crimson locks with a comb and her fingers to remove any lingering knots. "Why do you want to change it?"

"I was originally going to do it so people might recognize me, but now I think I want it done for practicality more than anything else. No offense, Flayn - your hair is lovely, too. I'm just used to having a hairstyle that isn't so...easy to pull."

Flayn looked down at her braids, sighed, and pointed Monica toward a full-length mirror. "Let me see what I can do for you."

Monica sat down in a chair and let Flayn attempt to reconstruct her double hair buns. They didn't have the complexity of the braids she had before, but she was happy that she was slowly starting to look like her old self again. About fifteen minutes later, a monk presented Monica with her new academy uniform, which she excitedly put on out of view of Flayn.

"Now this is more like it!" she said as she took one last look in the mirror, fluffed her hair to make sure her braids were in place, and then spun around to show off to Flayn. "How do I look?"

"Very classy," said Flayn, "and scholarly as well! You should fit right in now."

Monica giggled. "I sure hope so. I'm starting to wish they'd given you one of these, too. Maybe with a little bit of luck and someone whispering into your brother's ear, we might even have been placed in the same class! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"I suppose it would. There is quite a bit I wish to learn."

The two girls continued to chat on their way to Monica's dorm room, passing several soldiers carrying large crates toward the cathedral. When they got to the dorm, they saw a young woman with teal hair standing at the edge of the stairs leading to the bathhouse.

"There you are," said the mysterious woman.

Monica froze in place when their eyes met. Who was this woman? Why did her eyes look so cold? And what was with the sword on her belt? It didn't look like it was made of metal. No...it was more like...bones?

The woman with the bony sword and the icy stare began to approach Monica slowly. Monica peeked over at Flayn and wondered why she wasn't scared to near-death by a woman who was _clearly_ dangerous.

Monica's first instinct was to signal for one of the guards for help, but she soon forgot about that when the woman extended a hand and tried to smile. "You're Monica, right?"

"Yes! Yes, I am!"

Relieved that the woman wasn't trying to kill her, Monica looked down and shook her hand to try to make things less awkward.

_Get a hold of yourself, Monica! You can't keep doing this if you want people to respect you. You're going to be a baroness one day. Be strong! Be bold! At least pretend to be _one_ of those things!_

"I'm going to be your new teacher starting next week," said the woman. "My name's Byleth, but you can call me either 'Miss Eisner', or 'Professor'. I'm not the only teacher here, but everyone seems to like using the second nickname...and I really do mean _everyone._"

"Oh...I guess that makes things easier then, huh, 'Professor'?" said Monica.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll let you get settled into your new room for a couple of days, and then we'll meet again to discuss your lesson plans for this coming month. Does that sound good?"

Monica nodded.

"Good. I'm still moving my things up to my fa-I mean, to Captain Jeralt's room, so you'll have to excuse the mess. If you need me and I'm not in that room, just ask around. I get called on to do a lot of things, so I could be anywhere."

"That sounds exhausting," said Monica, "but I'll keep an eye out for you. See you later, Professor!"

Monica watched as her new professor walked toward the meeting hall. She still felt intimidated standing so close to Byleth, but she couldn't deny that there was a certain allure to the way she carried herself.

She tried to settle down in her new dorm room, which had been stripped of all decorations except for a calendar by the door. When she received her uniform, she was also given a key, so she tested it to make sure her door locked properly.

Flayn sat down in the desk chair and faced Monica, who had already laid herself out on the bed, laughing and waving her arms and legs about. "It feels _so_ good to finally be back among the living," said Monica.

"I am happy for you," said Flayn, "and I am glad I was able to help in some way."

Monica sprang up and clasped her hands together on her lap. "Now I'm curious, Flayn...if you're not a student here, what _will_ you be doing all day when I'm in class?"

"There is a lot of paperwork to be done...almost too much for one person, so I will be assisting my brother with that."

"Does that mean you'll be a lot less...um, 'accessible' after today?"

"Of course not, Monica. If you wish, we could meet up on Saturdays when neither of us are busy."

"That's a great idea!"

Monica looked inside her closet and clothes drawers only to find that they, too, had been cleared of all their contents. "It's too bad I don't have anything to offer you in here," she said, "so we can't hang out in my room."

"How about by the greenhouse, or the fishing pond?" asked Flayn.

"The fishing pond sounds nice."

"Then I shall see you there next Saturday afternoon after lunch. If I am not there when you arrive, please wait for me."

"Sure thing, Flayn. I know I don't stand out much in this uniform, but I don't think I'll be that hard to miss. Just remember the color 'red'."

The two girls hugged, with Monica reaching behind Flayn's braids to rub her back. It was a warm and soothing feeling...something Monica had missed for a long time. She hoped that her new Black Eagles classmates would receive her as warmly.


	5. Coming Home to Roost

Over the next few days, Monica tried to familiarize herself with the campus layout, walking from one end to another without Ingrid or Flayn's guidance. She wanted to strike up conversations with some of the other students, but it was hard to tell which ones belonged to her house as their uniforms didn't have any special coats-of-arms sewn onto them.

Monica had lost all of her money when she was rescued, and she still hadn't heard anything from or about her father since she last wrote to him. Without a monthly allowance to rely on, she turned to the bulletin boards for errands to run. She earned about 500 gold pieces helping cook and serve food in the dining hall, and that gave her enough money to buy a wooden training sword and a few vulneraries to heal any injuries she might sustain.

A few students challenged Monica to duels in the training arena, hoping to "get their first licks in" on the new girl. Two boys came at her with a sword and an axe, while a third girl came at her with a lance that looked a lot more like a walking stick. Though her reaction speed had been dulled from being away from combat situations for a long time, Monica was able to beat the axe-wielding boy by overpowering him with swift slashes that he was unable to defend against. The sword-fighter and the lance-fighter both had a speed advantage on her, so the best she could do was get in one or two strikes against each of them before being knocked down.

A younger Monica would have protested that a three-on-one fight was unfair. When she grew older, she knew better. One-on-one duels outside of a controlled environment were a rarity. Her enemies would use every advantage possible to win, and she needed to be prepared to counter them at all times. "_Be strong, be stubborn_." That was her family's motto. If an Ochs couldn't win a conflict outright, they had to give everything they had to prevent their enemies from walking all over them.

* * *

Monica felt awful when she woke up that Saturday morning. She had heard a terrifying voice in her head a few hours after she had gone to sleep.

_**"Do not struggle."**_

It was telling her to do the opposite of everything her father and their caretakers had instilled in her since birth.

To just lie there.

To not fight back.

To give up.

What choice did she have? She was tired...too tired to even open her eyes to see who or what was threatening her. Not only that, but she ached all over.

A moment later, she heard the sound of metal hitting against stone...then she felt herself floating, suspended in midair as if by magic.

Without warning, her body was tossed against something hard, causing a splitting headache.

When she came to, she found herself lying on the floor next to her bed.

_Ouch! I wish these beds were bigger._

Monica slowly got up from the ground and dusted herself off, and then walked over to the dining hall to get her morning breakfast. The oatmeal she ate was only a few steps above common gruel, but at least she could put sliced peaches in it to add some flavor.

A church monk was waiting outside her bedroom door when she returned. "Lady Monica!" she said. "Professor Eisner is ready to see you. She said to come to her office as soon as you were finished eating."

"I'll be right there!"

Monica took her time walking up to Jeralt's room, hoping Byleth wouldn't scold her for fighting in the arena without permission. When she reached the office, she saw a tall, rugged-looking bearded man hand the professor a folder with a short stack of papers inside. Monica figured it had to be Jeralt, the former captain of the Knights of Seiros.

"She's all yours," he said to Byleth on his way out of the room. Monica nodded to Jeralt and sat across from her teacher at the table by the window.

"Hi, Professor," said Monica. "You wanted to see me about something?"

"Yes. Before we get started with that, how are you feeling?" asked Byleth.

Monica pretended to think about it for a moment so she could look at the fully-stacked bookshelves off to her side. There were so many different volumes on so many different subjects that she thought they couldn't possibly have all belonged to Jeralt or the professor. If only she could get her hands on one to see what was inside...

"Monica?"

"Oh! Sorry, Professor...I spaced out there, didn't I?" The young heiress turned back to Byleth, who didn't look as scary up close when she couldn't see her weird sword. "Actually, I'm feeling achy today...I fell out of bed last night."

"Do you need some medicine?"

"No, thank you."

The headache didn't bother her as much as the devilish, almost demonic voice that rang in her head last night. No vulnerary could fix it, and she wasn't ready to tell anyone about her nightmare. Not yet.

"Let's see here...according to your old personnel records, you've had some training with swords and lances," said Byleth, examining the papers in the file folder. "Which of those do you prefer?"

"My family has a history of skilled sword-fighters," said Monica, "so I'd like to stick to that if possible."

"What about ranged weapons? Can you shoot a bow? Can you use magic?"

"No, not really. I prefer getting up close to my enemies when I fight."

"It never hurts to have a backup plan to use when things get too hairy. This month, I'd like you to focus on building up your swordsmanship, and then I'd like you to choose one of the three long-range disciplines to study for your secondary focus - archery, white magic, or black magic."

"In that case, I'd like to try out white magic."

"Good choice." Byleth handed Monica a six-page pamphlet entitled "Priest Certification Exam" with a picture of a man and a woman in robes similar to the ones worn by the Church of Seiros. "The Black Eagles only have one healer, so it'll help a lot if we have someone else to heal the team's wounds. If you'd prefer to focus solely on building your strength at the expense of being able to use magic, then you could try taking the Mercenary class certification exam. If you pass both, you can pick which one you want to take before a mission. It's up to you."

Monica didn't have to think about it for very long. When it came to choosing between raw power and versatility, versatility won out. She'd still have to drink those gross vulneraries if she wanted to heal her own wounds, but studying a few hand gestures and chanting a prayer to the goddess to heal others felt like a fair trade-off. She could still use her sword in combat if she felt like it, even if the Priest training course wouldn't let her put her full weight behind every strike.

"Come with me," said Byleth. "It's time for you to meet your new classmates."

"Right behind you, Professor."

* * *

Monica followed Byleth to the common area to a row of buildings between the meeting hall and the student dorms. Each one had a flag hanging outside the door to indicate which house it belonged to - Black Eagles, Blue Lions, or Golden Deer. The Black Eagles classroom was the first one in her line of sight, so Monica peeked inside and waited for someone to notice her. With nothing to study while their professor was away, most of the students were engaged in small talk. It was only when Byleth stepped into the room that anyone turned to look in Monica's direction.

A girl with white hair caught Monica's immediate attention. Most of the other students seemed drawn to her, including one boy with dark clothes and unkempt black hair, who was sitting at a desk close to her and kept his eyes on her whenever she walked around. Monica thought she looked beautiful, too, but she knew she had to keep her composure when the girl approached to avoid any more awkward first impressions.

"Welcome back, Professor," the girl said to Byleth. "Did everything go well with your 'special guest'?"

"Yes," said the professor. "In fact, as of today, she's going to be joining the Black Eagles. Why don't you introduce yourselves to her to make her feel comfortable?"

Several other students gathered around the white-haired girl to meet the new addition to their class. "Monica, was it?" she asked.

Monica was taken aback. How could this girl possibly have known her name before she had a chance to introduce herself?

"We were told that a former Academy student had been rescued alongside Flayn, and your name was mentioned. In any case, welcome back to the Black Eagles. I'm Edelgard von Hresvelg, the new leader of this house. If you ever have any questions that you don't think our teacher will be able to answer, come to me, and I'll do the best I can."

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Your Highness," said a starstruck Monica, who managed to compose herself just long enough to curtsy before the Imperial princess.

"And I am Lady Edelgard's humble servant, Hubert von Vestra," said the boy with the scruffy hair. "As long as you are not a nuisance to her, I believe your time in the Officers Academy will be most fruitful."

Monica didn't appreciate the implied death threat in Hubert's greeting, but she tried not to scowl at him. He didn't look like he was one to joke about such things.

"I had no idea the Black Eagles would be adding another noble to their ranks," said an orange-haired boy standing on the opposite side of Edelgard and Hubert. "Greetings! My name is Ferdinand von Aegir. My father is the prime minister of the Empire, and I am next in line to inherit his position."

"And I'm Linhardt von...Hevring," yawned a green-haired boy sitting off to the side.

"Eh, don't mind him," said an excitable boy with light-blue hair standing next to him. "This is one of the few times we've managed to get Linhardt to stay awake! Mostly. Anyway, I'm Caspar...Caspar von Bergliez. Nice to meet you!"

One of the other students whispered to a girl in purple, who reluctantly turned in the same direction as everyone else to greet Monica. "I'm Bernadetta...von Varley," said the shy girl. "Don't mind me...I'm just here for class so I can get back to my room."

"Come on, Bernie, don't be like that!" said a girl with long, curly brown hair. "I'm sure our new friend would like to get to know you, too!"

The girl sitting next to Bernadetta extended her right hand for Monica to shake. She had very delicate hands, almost like Flayn's. "My name's Dorothea Arnault. I'm not a noble like yourself, Edie, or almost everyone else here, but they've helped me feel at home here in the Black Eagle house. We all hope you have a pleasant time here with us."

Dorothea turned to a darker-skinned girl standing to her left. _This is probably who Dorothea means by "almost everyone else here" being a noble,_ Monica thought. _That tattoo under her eye looks familiar. Could she be from Brigid? Father used to warn me about the Brigidians ever since we lost the war, but...this one doesn't look like a bad person._

"And I am Petra Macneary," said the girl. "I, too, am hoping that we can be friends."

"Thank you all so much," said Monica. "I'm looking forward to a fruitful and productive year for all of us."

Monica sat down at a desk behind Dorothea and between Linhardt and Bernadetta. She thought about the names of the families that most of the other Black Eagles belonged to - Hresvelg, Vestra, Aegir, Hevring, Bergliez, and Varley - and couldn't believe how lucky she was to be in the same class as _all_ of the descendants of the Imperial court. She was also curious about why they were all in the same house at the same time, wondering if it had something to do with the rumors of a coup that happened years ago.

Before she could think about it any further, Byleth walked to the blackboard and tapped on it with a wooden stick to get the class' attention. Even Linhardt and Bernadetta sat up straight to listen to what the professor had to say.

"Now, since today is Saturday," said Byleth, "I didn't prepare any lessons for you. I only gathered you all here so I could introduce you to Monica. Next week, we'll discuss our strategy for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Edelgard and Hubert will be in charge of that. Monica, even though you won't be participating in the event, I'd still like you to come out to Gronder Field with us to observe the battle and give our house some much-needed moral support."

"Yes, Professor," said Monica. She wasn't happy with being a simple cheerleader, but at least by watching the Battle of the Eagle and Lion from afar, she could learn more about proper battlefield tactics and hopefully witness a Black Eagles victory before she graduated.

"Those of you who are scheduled to participate," the professor continued, "keep working on your training from the week before the underground chamber mission. Monica, I'd like you to work on your swordsmanship with Dorothea and Petra, and take some white magic lessons from Linhardt. Your goal will be to prepare for one of the class certification exams we discussed earlier."

Monica's response was more enthusiastic this time around. "You got it!"

"That's it for now. Class is dismissed. Meet me back here after the breakfast bell on Monday and we'll pick up where we left off."

Byleth sat her stick down next to the chalkboard, and most of the students dispersed. Only Edelgard, Linhardt, Caspar, Dorothea, and Monica stayed behind.

"So, Monica," said Caspar, "I heard that you were up in the arena earlier today. You seem pretty eager to get back onto the battlefield. Wanna spar with me later?"

"Not today," said Monica. "I'm already worn out from having to fight three students at once."

"Geez...that's pretty rough. I never got hazed that badly when I first started going here."

"At least I managed to take out the guy with the axe before the others knocked me out."

"Swordsmanship and healing isn't a combination that you see too often around here," said Dorothea. "The only two people I know who use both are Marianne over in the Golden Deer house, and Manuela, the nurse. I think she's teaching the Blue Lions this year, so I don't know how readily she'll be available to help."

Monica had yet to see Manuela since her return to Garreg Mach. "Is she doing okay?"

"I think she should be finished recovering from the Death Knight's attack by now," said Edelgard. "You should go see her when you get a chance."

"Ooh! Good idea! It'll be nice to go to the infirmary as a visitor and not a patient."

"Having a second healer on the team will really help our house out," said Linhardt. "It'll certainly help lighten my load. I hope that doesn't make it sound like I'm putting my work on you so soon after you came back…"

Monica shook her head. "It's fine, Linhardt. I'll do whatever it takes to help our team, even if I can't help you guys out with the Battle of the Eagle and Lion."

"Caspar, Dorothea, Linhardt...save a spot at one of the tables in the dining hall for me," said Edelgard. "I'd like to speak with Monica alone for a few moments."

"Sure thing, Edie," said Dorothea.

"All right! My favorite time of the day!" said Caspar.

"Try to slow down when you chew this time," said Linhardt, patting Caspar on the back as they walked out behind Dorothea.

There were still a few students in the classroom whose names Monica didn't know. She smiled and nodded at them, but they didn't smile or nod back. They only watched as she followed Edelgard out to the garden maze, past the gazebo where the princess would meet with Hubert or Byleth for tea. There was a second gazebo next to it, but it didn't have any tables or chairs in or around it...just a floating sphere dotted with weird green lines.

Monica sat down next to Edelgard at the only bench facing the green sphere. She clenched her fists and tried to look at Edelgard without showing any signs of weakness or nervousness. Was it really okay for her, the scion of the lord of a minor noble house, to sit so close to the future leader of the Empire, without anyone asking questions? What could she possibly want to discuss?

"How are you feeling, Monica?" asked the princess.

"I-I'm quite fine, Your Highness," said Monica.

"Are you sure? You still sound a little shaky. I can only imagine how frightening it must have been to be trapped underground for so long. None of us were aware that you had gone missing until after your body was discovered. When we found you and Flayn, I had feared the worst...that the Death Knight, or someone else, had taken you."

Monica didn't want to admit it even to Edelgard, but she _was_ still shaken. She still heard voices in her head when she slept. People screaming in pain, crying for help... She couldn't make sense of any of it, much less imagine how horrible Flayn was secretly feeling about her ordeal.

"I'm still here, thank the Goddess," said Monica after a heavy sigh. "I honestly thought I was going to die down there, destined to be forgotten."

"But it doesn't have to end that way, Monica. You still have a long life ahead of you, and plenty of time to make a name for yourself. How do you plan on using it?"

"I want… I want to help people...to save them...just as Flayn saved me."

"Flayn...saved you?"

Edelgard rested a fist on her chin and hummed. Were Flayn's healing abilities the real reason for her kidnapping, like Monica thought? Or was there something else at stake? There were many things she still needed to consider before coming to a conclusion.

"In a manner of speaking, of course," said Monica. "She healed me when the knights brought me back to the infirmary, and she was the first person I saw when I woke up."

"I see. I'll go on ahead and discuss this with our teacher and see what she thinks about everything. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes, Your Hi-"

"'Edelgard' is fine. We're classmates now, and it wouldn't be fair if you were the only one still addressing me as if I was just a princess."

Monica uncurled her fists and relaxed. It still felt weird addressing Edelgard as an equal instead of the leader she was appointed - no, _destined_ \- to be, but as long as it was okay with Edelgard, she would acquiesce. "Yes, Edelgard. Thank you...I feel a little bit better now."

"Good. I'm going to head off to lunch now. Feel free to do as you wish, but try not to stray too far off the academy grounds. Have a good day, Monica."

Edelgard got up from the bench and departed for the dining hall to meet with her other friends. Monica wasn't feeling hungry, so she went back to her room to write another letter to her father about meeting her professor and her new classmates for the first time. Her pep talk with Edelgard filled her with enthusiasm and optimism for the days to come. She wasn't going to let her or Byleth down...not when she had been given this second chance to prove herself.


	6. Getting Up to Speed

_EDIT (5/14/2020): __Updated "a year's worth of ring rust" to "several months' worth..."._

* * *

The start of Monica's first week of classes came sooner than she thought. Everyone around her had settled into their individual lesson plans with ease, having already completed their specialized class certifications. Edelgard had become a Lord, a class exclusive to the house leaders, allowing her to use axes and swords, as well as the authority to command high-level battalions. Dorothea and Hubert were the team's magic specialists as Mage and Dark Mage, respectively. Dorothea was well-versed in lightning magic, but her background as an actress and singer had also given her the grace and poise to handle a sword. Her friend Petra also excelled in swords, and had taken training as a Mercenary. The rest of the Black Eagles' lineup was surprisingly diverse - Ferdinand was a gallant horse-riding Cavalier, Caspar was a ferocious axe-wielding Brigand, Bernadetta was a snipe-from-the-shadows Archer, and Linhardt a healing Priest. It almost wanted to make Monica ask Byleth to give her a different training course so that their skill sets didn't overlap. Maybe she would switch back to lances and take flying lessons as a secondary so she could be a Pegasus Knight like Ingrid. _The extra mobility would be a boon to the team for rescue and scouting missions_, she thought.

In addition to studying, there were chores to be done. The stables had to be cleaned, the grass had to be weeded, and the skies patrolled to spot distant enemies. For her first assignment, Monica was asked to help Linhardt and Dorothea clean up the weeds around the classroom area.

"This would be a lot easier if we had something to cut this grass with," said Dorothea.

"No kidding," said Monica. "I can already feel my hands starting to get blisters."

"Look on the bright side," said Linhardt. "Once this grass is all cleaned up, it'll be easier for us to lie down and look up at the clouds."

"That might sound like a fun time to you, Lin," Dorothea added, plucking a fistful of crabgrass at her feet, "but some of us prefer hobbies that don't require getting our clothes dirty."

"You're really missing out, Dorothea. The clouds are looking quite lovely today."

Monica looked up from her weed-pulling duties for a minute to see if she could spot anything unusual. One cloud that drifted over the bell tower reminded her of a wolf's head. Linhardt pointed out another one that resembled an apple if one looked at it from the right angle. Dorothea prodded the two of them to get back to work so they could finish early and move on to other things.

Monica signaled for Byleth to run a quick inspection on their work. The professor examined the field from above and below, even getting down on her belly to observe any unevenness at ground level. "You missed a few spots," she said.

Monica was about to run over to Byleth's side to look for the missing grass patches, only to realize she wasn't pointing at anything. The professor just smirked at her. "Just kidding...you did a good job, everyone."

* * *

On Tuesday, the class was asked to go to the training arena to work on improving their weapon skills. Students were only allowed to go in pairs for each house, so Monica waited for Edelgard and Caspar to finish their axe duel before taking her turn. "Okay, so who do I get to duel against first?" she asked.

Dorothea stood up and drew her training sword, which was starting to show signs of splintering. "Looks like it's going to be you and me, Monica," she said with a wink. "I hope you're ready!"

Monica took a deep breath and loosened herself up to try to shake off several months' worth of ring rust. Dorothea gripped the hilt of her sword as tight as she could and waited for Monica to make the first move.

A quick overhead strike would have been an ideal opening move against an inexperienced opponent like the three students Monica fought earlier, but Dorothea wasn't likely to fall for that due to her previous experience fighting bandits. Monica held her sword out like a fencing saber and thrusted it at Dorothea's midsection. The songstress was able to block the first strike, but not the second or third. Monica almost felt sorry for having to hurt a classmate, especially one as pretty as Dorothea.

A fourth thrust to the face failed to find its mark, giving Dorothea an opportunity to parry and counter with a slash that caught Monica on the arm when she misjudged where to hold her sword to block it. She wouldn't make that mistake again. When Dorothea attempted to go low, Monica knocked her sword down and used the opening to strike her hat.

"Not bad," said Dorothea, "but you let your guard down!"

In one smooth motion, Dorothea lifted her sword and brought it back down again, striking Monica once across the chest and once in the head. Monica didn't know if anybody was keeping score, but she felt like she was losing.

She tried to match Dorothea blow for blow, trading strikes and parries until she found an opening. When Dorothea went for a backhand strike, Monica blocked the blade properly this time and countered with a swipe at Dorothea's shoulder, putting as much power behind the strike as she could to end the battle quickly.

"Ouch! You got me pretty good with that one. I think I'm done for the day," said Dorothea.

"Me too," said Monica. "You weren't too bad yourself, Dorothea. Do you want me to try to heal that up? I've got my white magic tome right here, and I could just-"

"No, that's okay...I think I'll be fine after I put some ice on it."

Dorothea rubbed the area around her shoulder gingerly. It appeared that Monica's finishing strike was a clean hit. The injury didn't look too serious, but without any knowledge of proper healing techniques, Monica only risked making things worse by attempting a healing spell before she was ready. She was confident enough in her sword skills that she thought she might be ready to participate in a proper mission soon.

* * *

On Wednesday, Monica went back to the arena to train with Petra. Dorothea, having partially healed from her shoulder injury, watched from the sidelines to observe the two combatants.

"I will not be holding back," vowed Petra.

"Neither will I," said Monica.

Monica watched Petra's movements carefully as their swords clashed. Her fighting style relied on powerful, measured strikes, which Monica had to counter in kind. She spent most of the fight on the defensive, and every hard parry she took drained a bit of her stamina. She considered herself an even match for Dorothea as their fighting styles relied on quick slashes, parries, and dodges. It was harder for Monica to counter Petra's moves when it felt like any given strike could snap her training sword in half. Still, she gave it her all and tried to use Petra's force against her, but it wasn't enough to avoid a knockdown.

"You are still in need of more training," Petra said as she offered her hand to help Monica up from the ground, "but I believe you will be making good progress soon. Do you agree, Dorothea?"

"Yes, definitely," said Dorothea. "You handled yourself pretty well for someone who hasn't fought in a long time."

"Thanks, guys," said Monica. "I think I'm going to take a break from sword-fighting for the rest of the week. I'm beat!"

* * *

On Thursday, Monica visited the library to borrow a tome of white magic. After skimming through the first few pages, she discovered the basic "Heal" spell, which required her to draw a small sigil in the air and hold her palms up to the injured patient's wounds. According to the book, healing magic was done through the use of magical staves in centuries past, but changing knowledge of magic had allowed for healers to channel through their bodies, with only a handful of staves still being used in modern Fódlan. Monica looked around in the library for test subjects to use her new spell on, but everyone appeared to be in perfect health, including Linhardt who, while his usual sleepy self, was reading through a book on the lineage of Crest-bearers.

"If you're looking for someone to use you healing magic on," he said, "you're in the wrong place. You'll probably have more luck looking in the infirmary."

"But isn't that Manuela's duty?" asked Monica.

"It is, but there's never a day that goes by without someone getting sick or injured. With our little demonstration, we might be able to help lighten Manuela's workload a bit. I can help show you what to do. Just let me finish reading this book and we'll go over there together."

Monica took the book with her and followed Linhardt to the infirmary. As they walked toward the door, their noses caught the scent of strong alcohol.

"Looks like she's back," said Linhardt.

When they opened the door, they saw a woman in a white cape and revealing green dress administering medicine to a student sitting on the bed where Monica had been sleeping. A second student was sitting next to the first, trying to keep a blood-stained cloth pressed down on his left arm.

"Oh...Linhardt? I was expecting you to come a few minutes earlier," said the woman.

"Sorry, Manuela," said Linhardt. "I got caught up in a good book."

Manuela raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Right. Anyway, I see you've brought a friend with you. What's your name, dear?"

Monica didn't feel as intimidated by Manuela as she did when she first met Rhea and Seteth. She didn't know if it was because she had been back at school for a while and had grown accustomed to talking to authority figures, or because Manuela looked a lot more relaxed than those two at first glance. "I'm Monica von Ochs. I'm glad to see that you're okay, Mi-I mean, Professor Manuela."

Manuela wanted to thank Monica for correcting herself and not reminding her of her age, but the stab wound in her back was too painful to ignore. "Not totally okay, it would seem," she said. "That Death Knight really did a number on me. I can't wait to get my hands on him again and give him a good beating!"

"He got you too, huh?"

"Yeah. It's because of him that I won't be able to take part in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Professor Hanneman's sitting out too. He doesn't think it would be fair to play if I wasn't playing. I think he just wants to personally get one up on me, the old fool!" Manuela stopped to take a deep breath before going off on a rant about the rival professor from the Golden Deer house. "Let's get down to business, shall we? I have a patient here who got attacked by a wild beast in the forest. Do you think you can fix the cut on his arm?"

The boy slowly removed the cloth on his arm, revealing a large claw mark that had left a serious bruise and had come dangerously close to exposing some muscle tissue.

"Sadly, you'll see a lot worse than this once you get back onto a real battlefield," Linhardt said to Monica. The blood on the boy's wound and bandage had dried, but he still felt disturbed looking directly at it. "All you need to do is draw the spell symbol in the air and hold your hand up to the affected area. Try not to touch it directly. There's no telling what might happen to either of you if you let your hand get too close."

Monica took a deep breath and concentrated on drawing the sigil she saw in the book. She felt a warm, soothing energy flowing through her hands, just as she did when Flayn used the same spell on her.

_Goddess, please lend me your aid to mend this wound and make this flesh whole again._

There was nothing in the book that said she needed to say the incantation out loud, but she wanted to at least whisper her prayer to make it feel authentic.

As Monica held her hands close to the boy's scrape wound, it glowed with a soft light as his damaged flesh slowly stitched itself back together. Within seconds, the wound had disappeared, leaving only a minimal scar as a reminder of the boy's encounter. "How does it feel?" she asked.

The boy brushed his hand over the scar where his wound once was, expecting it to still hurt. "It feels...I can barely feel anything," he said. "It's almost like I never got attacked. Thank you so much for your help!"

"It was nothing. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it once I've practiced some more."

"Nonsense," said Manuela as she led the newly-healed boy out of the room so he could return to class. "That was pretty good for your first try, Monica. Your next challenge will be to improve your casting speed. On the battlefield, a quick and steady stream of heals can mean the difference between life and death."

"Doesn't that get tiring after a while, though?"

"It does," said Linhardt, "but once you've taken a bit of time to rest, you'll be ready to cast again, good as new."

_Magic that recharges while you sleep...what a neat idea!_, Monica thought.

"Tell you what," said Manuela. "If you've got any free time, would you be willing to help me out with the students here? I don't have any money to pay you, but I think it'll be a good learning experience. What do you say?"

In order to study under Manuela, Monica would have to temporarily give up her side job in the kitchen. She liked cooking and she liked earning money, but she _really_ wanted to finish that Priest certification exam as soon as possible.

"If it's all right with Miss Eisner, I guess I could…"

Manuela smiled. "Good. Just drop in whenever you have a free moment. You too, Linhardt."

Linhardt and Monica both nodded toward Manuela before leaving. He felt like he needed another nap, but Monica wanted to try a few more healings even if it would have served her better to wait for another day.


	7. Courier Lost

_EDIT (5/14/2020): Updated a paragraph regarding Monica's grandfather (the previous Baron Ochs) and her father (the current baron) to make it less confusing._

* * *

Monica had spent most of her time on Friday studying the history of the Battle of Gronder Field to understand the context behind the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. She thought it was interesting that the Golden Deer house was also part of the ceremony as the Leicester Alliance was still part of the Holy Kingdom of Faehrgus back in the day. Ingrid was sure to be on the front lines fighting for the Blue Lions. Monica wanted to see Ingrid do well, but she was going to give her most vocal support to the Black Eagles, hoping that they would fly to victory.

When Saturday rolled around, Monica remembered that she was supposed to meet Flayn down by the fishing pond after lunch. She didn't also expect to see several other students lined up around the pond with fishing rods and tackle baskets.

"Flayn, what's going on?" she asked. "Where'd all these kids come from?"

"Oh! I apologize for not telling you this earlier," said Flayn. "My brother and I are holding a fishing tournament today. I am looking for a particular fish that only appears in the waters around this time of year. He is offering a cash prize to the first person that can catch a Teutates herring before sunset today."

"That sounds challenging! I don't think I'm up to it, though. Sorry."

"I understand. Perhaps another time, then?"

Monica and Flayn watched as the nearby crowd cheered for a boy who had caught a large fish.

"Look at the size of that thing!" said one student.

"That's gotta be worth at least three stars!" said another. "Maybe even four!"

The lucky fisherman rushed over to Flayn to have his catch inspected. "This is very impressive!" said Flayn. "Unfortunately, it is not the one I am looking for. Keep at it! Do not give up!"

"I won't," the boy said as he went to toss his fish back into the pond and put some more bait on his hook.

Monica and Flayn walked toward the barrels away from the pier to get a better view of the fishing action without getting splashed. "Do you enjoy fishing, Flayn?" asked Monica.

"I do not so much enjoy the fishing part as I do the eating," said Flayn. "The more exotic the fish, the better the dish!"

They giggled at each other for a moment before watching another fisherman take a stab at catching the rare Teutates herring. He struggled with the catch on his hook for about a minute until the line on his rod snapped. "Aw...that felt like it was the big one," he said, walking away from the pier with his head bowed.

Flayn climbed onto one of the barrels, giving her an opportunity to look down on Monica from above for once. "How was your first week back in class, Monica?" she asked as a stray tabby cat jumped onto the barrel to nuzzle against her.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it," said Monica. "My sword skills are starting to come back to me...although I'm still a long way off before I can match Petra. She's pretty strong."

Flayn nodded as she watched Monica show off a few air thrusts and parries. She had watched the knights practice with sharper weapons than Monica's wooden training sword, but not touched one herself. She wanted to try holding a lance at least once.

"I also learned my first healing spell this week," Monica added. "Thankfully, I didn't have to go out onto the battlefield to use it." She held out her scar-covered right arm and wondered if Flayn had tried to patch her numerous wounds up while she was still unconscious. "Speaking of healing...how are you feeling right now?"

Flayn's smile faded. "I am doing fine," she sighed. "The dizziness and the nightmares have stopped...at least for now."

Monica was familiar with nightmares, but she couldn't recall feeling sick or dizzy after waking up. She empathized with Flayn, wishing there was a way for her to turn back the clock so that she could try to offer some aid with the magic she had just learned.

"Do you...want to talk about it? The nightmares, I mean."

The tabby cat had crawled its way onto Flayn's lap, using it as a makeshift bed. "Perhaps another time," she said. "I do not wish to spoil the mood out here today."

Just then, the two girls watched as Byleth and Jeralt approached the fishing area from the greenhouse side. Another girl with short, reddish-orange hair accompanied them, looking over at Byleth as she checked her fishing rod to make sure its line was sturdy.

"Are you sure you want to do this now, Professor?" asked the girl. "Shouldn't you be getting your team ready for the Battle of the Eagle and Lion?"

"It'll be fine, Leonie," said Byleth. "I think we've all earned a break for one day. My house has everything under control. I'm expecting a good showing from the Golden Deer, too."

Leonie, annoyed with the professor's dismissive treatment of the big inter-house battle, turned to Jeralt. "You agree with me, don't you, Captain? That we should be focusing on keeping our skills sharp?"

"Of course," said Jeralt, "but you can't focus _all_ of your energy on training. An exhausted soldier is as good as a dead one."

Leonie tried to let Jeralt's words sink in as she scoped out the bulletin board. "Maybe there's something else I can do around here that'll keep me active."

The board was filled with notes promising monetary and material rewards for anyone brave enough to fulfill the requests written on them, but most had gone untouched in the wake of Seteth and Flayn's fishing competition. After searching for a minute and not finding anything to her liking, Leonie spotted a note written in canary yellow paper pinned to the bottom of the board.

_Courier Trouble_

_Requester: Merchant Guild_

_There have been reports of increased bandit activity along the Fódlan's Fangs mountain range, disrupting transportation between Garreg Mach and the southern and western coastal lands. We are requesting a small contingent of able-bodied adventurers to investigate and eliminate the bandits if possible. Please meet our representative in the market if you are interested._

Curious about what Leonie was reading, Monica walked over to the bulletin board. "What's that about?" she asked.

"More bandits," said Leonie, almost ready to crumple the paper in her hands in anger. "I can't stand it! Why are there still so many of them? I thought we defeated the last bunch at Conand Tower, along with that big, hulking demonic beast!"

"Why don't you let me help you with this batch?"

Leonie looked at Monica's training sword and shook her head. "Are you sure about that? Your sword's not going to do much against real bandits."

"I can go get a better one!" said Monica. "Just give me some time, okay?"

"Before you do, it might be a good idea to introduce ourselves first, since we'll be working together. I'm Leonie Pinelli. I'm in the Golden Deer house."

"I'm Monica von Ochs, from the Black Eagles. I'm new here, but...not really? It's a bit hard to explain."

"Monica? Oh! You're the one Captain Jeralt and the Professor were talking about earlier."

"Yeah," said Monica, looking down and wondering what they might have said about her behind her back. "Uh, I'm gonna go and get that weapon now. Meet me down in the market."

"Sure thing," said Leonie, adjusting the bow draped over her chest. "I'll go see if I can gather some help."

Before she went off to the market, Monica went back over to Flayn by the barrels and said, "Sorry... I don't mean to leave you hanging so soon after you asked me to come out here, but it looks like I've got an 'assignment' coming up. One that's going to take me away from the monastery for a while."

Flayn sighed. "I had a feeling this would come eventually. You still have some work to do before you graduate, correct?"

"Yeah. 'Real-world experience' counts for about as much as book-reading in this line of work."

"It is still very dangerous beyond these walls, Monica. Please be cautious," said Flayn, clasping her hands together and closing her eyes. "I will add your name to my prayers while you are on your journey."

"Thank you, Flayn," said Monica as she mimicked Flayn's prayer gesture. "I'll do my best."

As Monica darted off toward the market and Leonie retreated to the dorms, Jeralt went over to the pier to watch Byleth reel in a large fish. "Whoa! Check you out!" he cheered. "That's gotta be the catch of the day. You've been practicing this, haven't you?"

"A little," Byleth said as she showed off her fish to Flayn.

"Yes! This is it! The Teutates herring!" she said. "I knew I could count on you, Professor!"

The crowd cheered again as Flayn showed off her target fish, formally ending the tournament.

"That girl just now…" Jeralt said to Byleth after everything quieted down. "She's one of your students, isn't she? Aren't you going to keep an eye on her?"

"Father," said Byleth, "I think Monica's capable of doing her own shopping."

"I was talking about the bandits. She's only been back with us for a week or two, right? Wouldn't want you to have to deal with losing one of your students so early."

"If she's planning on going with Leonie, then she won't be alone. I don't think it'll be a good idea to send only the two of them. I'll go see who else I can round up."

* * *

Back in the Black Eagles classroom, Edelgard and Hubert were leading a strategy session using a map of Gronder Field on the chalkboard behind them.

"Caspar and Dorothea will intercept any Golden Deer and Alliance forces approaching from the east," said Hubert as he quickly drew an array of symbols and shapes on the board, with letters representing each of the Black Eagles students. "Linhardt and Petra will advance to the north with their troops and take out any Kingdom and Blue Lion forces. Ferdinand, you and Lady Edelgard will advance to the front line and go straight for the center ballista. Draw the enemy away from that hill and make sure they do not reach it before we do."

Everyone in attendance nodded.

"This is where you come in, Bernadetta," said Edelgard. "While everyone is busy fighting other enemies, we'll need you to operate the ballista and provide covering fire for the rest of us."

"W-why me?" asked Bernadetta.

"Because, Bernadetta, you have the best archery skills among all of us," said Ferdinand. "You will play a key role in what is sure to be a glorious victory for the Black Eagle house."

"That sounds like a lot of pressure to put on just one person…"

"Do not have worries, Bernadetta," said Petra. "We will be acting as both shield and sword in this battle. As long as you have our protection, you will not be losing."

Dorothea giggled at Petra's motivational speech, saying, "You're starting to sound more like Edie every day, Petra."

"I am?" Petra bowed to Edelgard, thinking she had done something wrong. "My apologies. It was not my intention to-"

"I think what Dorothea means is that you're beginning to think like a commander," Edelgard replied, "and not just a common soldier. That kind of attitude will serve you well when it comes time for you to reign as queen of Brigid."

"Oh! Then I am grateful for your kind words."

"Hey...isn't there something missing on this diagram?" asked Caspar. "Where's the 'H'? You're not just gonna leave us out on the field to do the dirty work while you sit back and watch, are you?"

"Of course not," said Hubert, his voice sharpening like a fine dagger. "I will go on the battlefield where I am needed. Hopefully it will not be to clean up after your mistakes...as usual."

As Caspar and Ferdinand wondered which one of them Hubert was talking about, Byleth entered the room and glanced over at Hubert's crudely-drawn diagram on the chalkboard. "It looks like you've all got your game day strategy ready. Nice work!"

"Hmph. Matters like this are trivial to me," said Hubert, "but I appreciate your praise all the same, Professor."

Byleth dismissed the class for the afternoon, with everyone but Edelgard leaving the room. "Is there something wrong, Professor?" asked the princess.

"It's nothing like that. I actually came here to ask a favor of you."

"Really? I'm flattered that you would pick me for such a task. I'm more used to seeing you run errands for everyone else. What is it that you need?"

"I'd like for you to accompany Monica for a few days. She's going to partake in her first real battle, and I think she would benefit greatly from having a leader figure in her group."

"Where will she be going?"

"Out west, toward Fódlan's Fangs."

Edelgard was shocked to hear that there was still trouble in Monica's homeland. The Empire had driven back hostile forces from Brigid and Dagda, but not before they sacked the lands of Ochs and Nuvelle in a surprise attack. Despite his best efforts, her grandfather, Baron Emanuel von Ochs, died defending against the attack. Monica had just barely avoided being killed in the conflict when her father took her to live in a village in the eastern mountains when the war started. He got caught up in the fighting and managed to hold out long enough for the Empire's forces to bail him out, but by the time they arrived, he had lost everything - his land, his castle, and his prestige.

"I'll go with her and give you a full report when I return," said Edelgard. "I would like to go there myself to personally assess how much the situation has changed in the last five years."

As Edelgard left the room to look for Monica, Byleth sighed and wondered if she was doing the right thing delegating a guardian instead of doing the job herself. She didn't feel comfortable leaving her class behind without a suitable substitute teacher, and she had only signed on as a professor for all of six months, so she needed as much experience as she could get...just like her students.

* * *

Down at the market square, Monica stood outside the weapon shop admiring her new steel longsword. She liked being able to hold a weapon with some weight to it, but wasn't eager to start showing it off and risk looking like she was about to rob the stall.

Over in the corner by the front gate, Monica noticed a young woman with curly blond hair held down by a simple blue hair ribbon. Her dress suggested that she was or once belonged to a noble family, but not too many nobles wore ash-gray dresses. She appeared to be arguing with a white-suited merchant with a long, magenta ponytail.

"1,200 gold pieces?!" shouted the noblewoman. "The last time I was here, you said this book was 1,000...which still sounds too high, but I was perfectly willing to pay. What happened that made you jack up the price so quickly?"

"Sorry, lady," the merchant said as calmly as she could to try to soothe the noble's bad mood. "Business has been tough with the bandit interference in the west. I was expecting a big shipment of books and trinkets from there, but I haven't received my supplies in almost five days!"

"Perhaps they would sell better if you lowered your prices. You _are_ the only merchant selling such a unique book, after all."

The merchant took her raised index finger from the side of her mouth and pointed it at one of the books sitting in front of her. Its cover was decorated with a detailed etching of several large snowflakes and the title _Winter's Chill_ in fancy block letters. "Until I get my supplies, I'm down to just these three books. If I don't make _some_ sort of profit on them, I'm going to be in big trouble."

_Did she say "bandit interference?" This must be Leonie's contact,_ Monica thought. She looked into her coin purse to see how much change she had left from trading in her training sword, thinking that if she could help the young noblewoman, she might get some additional information about her quest.

The noblewoman noticed Monica approaching and spun around to meet her, sizing her up and flashing her a coy smile. "Why, hello there," she said. "Might I ask you for a favor?"

"Yes, of course!" said Monica, trying not to get lost staring at the woman's icy blue eyes. "What do you need help with?"

"There's a particular book that I'm in the market for: a magic tome called _Winter's Chill._ It's hard to find around these parts, and I appear to be a few...hundred gold pieces short. Would you happen to have any coins to spare? Even just one hundred will do."

"Uh...yeah. Here you go."

Monica handed the woman one hundred gold coins from her purse, placing them down gently and brushing an index finger lightly against her hand.

"Thank you," said the woman. "I promise to repay your kindness one day."

Monica was delighted that she was able to help the young stranger out, but the deal had yet to be sealed. The woman was a bit calmer now, and ready to try to cut a deal with the merchant. "Will you accept 1,050 coins for that book?" she asked.

"1,050? That's an odd price to ask for," said the merchant. "I'll part with it for 1,100, and not a single coin less."

The noblewoman wasted no time in handing the merchant her purse, knowing that her window of opportunity to obtain that book was closing. "I'll take it!"

The merchant's smile returned after she counted the coins to make sure everything was there, handing over one of the books once she was satisfied. "There you go...one authentic copy of _Winter's Chill_! Thanks for your patronage!"

The noblewoman turned to Monica, cradling her new book as one would with a stuffed animal. "I can't thank you enough for helping me buy this book," she said. "What, if you don't mind me asking, is your name?"

"It's Monica."

"Monica? Hmm...I can't say I've heard that name before. My name is Constance, but you can call me...Connie."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Connie."

Monica and Constance exchanged smiles and winks as the merchant behind them arranged her remaining inventory for new customers.

"I'm afraid I must cut our meeting short," said Constance. "By the look of that new sword of yours, you must be on your way out of here, as well. Perhaps if fortune favors it, we might meet again."

"I'd like that a lot," said Monica. "Can I write to you so that we can stay in touch?"

"A wonderful idea! Judging by your uniform, you must be a student at this academy, correct?"

"I am, yes."

"I thought as much. That should make it easier for me to contact you. Farewell for now, Monica! I hope to hear more about your adventure when you return."

Constance waved to Monica before exiting through the monastery's front gate. Monica waved back and sighed as she tried to construct an image of the maiden in blue and grey in her head. She was so focused on watching Constance leave that she didn't notice Leonie standing right behind her. "New friend of yours?" she asked.

Leonie wasn't alone - Edelgard and Ingrid had joined her shortly thereafter.

"Uh, yeah...I think she was talking to our contact," said Monica.

"She was definitely trying to contact _someone_, alright," said Ingrid.

Monica saw her three companions snickering at her and wanted to laugh with them, even though she knew the joke was at her expense. "_Anyway,_" she said to draw the other girls' attention, "our contact is standing right over there."

Leonie brought the quest paper over to the merchant and almost dropped it when she recognized who it was. "Anna?"

"Oh! Hi there, Leonie," said Anna. "Need something?"

"Not today, Anna. We're here because we saw your request on one of the bulletin boards. You know...about the bandits?"

"Oh, _that!_ So you're going to take out those bandits up by Fódlan's Fangs, huh?"

Monica started to worry. She hadn't received any responses to the letters she wrote to her father, but she was convinced he was still up there in the mountains. Brigid soldiers were one thing, but a group of loosely-organized bandits wouldn't be enough to stop him...so she thought.

"That's right," said Edelgard. "How soon can you arrange a carriage to take us up there?"

"I'll have it ready by dinnertime," said Anna.

"Thank you."

Edelgard nodded and signaled for everyone to gather around her on the other side of the gate. "All right, everyone. We will soon ride toward Fódlan's Fangs. We're expected to reach that mountain range in two to three days. Monica, I know this has to be especially hard for you, what with it being both your first real battle and it taking place so close to your home. Are you sure you're up to this?"

Monica took a deep breath and stood at attention. This was no time for her to be nervous. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said.

"Ingrid, Leonie… With the three of us gone, our houses will still be at even strength for Battle of the Eagle and Lion training. I hope Dimitri and Claude have prepared their concession speeches for the inevitable Black Eagles victory."

"You sound pretty confident, Edelgard," said Ingrid. "My house has a foolproof strategy that'll put yours to ruin in minutes."

Leonie looked at her two house rivals and frowned. "I doubt it'll hold up against the Golden Deer and its master of schemers."

"Ladies, ladies," Monica interjected. "Let's save the competitive talk for Gronder Field, okay? We're on the same team for this mission, so let's channel our energy into busting some bandits and not each other."

"Agreed," said Edelgard. "We'll all meet up here at the gate after dinner. Make sure you've got all of your equipment and supplies ready by then. It's going to be a long trip."

With that, the four warriors headed off to the dining hall and prepared to eat the last home-cooked meal they would have for a while. Monica looked forward to working alongside students from each of the three academy houses in a rare moment of cooperation before they'd have to clash on the battlefield. She also wondered what Flayn wound be up to in her absence, and if they'd ever be allowed to work together on future missions.

Then there was the question of her father. Why hadn't he responded to any of her letters? Had he moved away from the mountains? Was _he_ dead? She wanted to find out for herself once she helped Leonie and the others deal with the bandits.


	8. Communication Error

_EDIT (5/14/2020): Removed "...for the first time in years" near the end of the chapter._

* * *

After they ate dinner, Monica and her friends gathered some sleeping bags, a large tent, and a few days' supply of food and water and took them to the caravan waiting outside the monastery's front gate, leaving just enough room for all of them to sit in the back and protect any of their gear from falling out. Monica squeezed between Edelgard and Ingrid, and Leonie took the remaining seat on Ingrid's right side.

"Everything ready back there?" asked the caravan driver.

"Almost!" said Leonie.

Monica double-checked to make sure her sword and sheath were properly fastened to her belt. She took a good look at her companions' weapons, as well - Ingrid's lance, Leonie's bow and arrows, and Edelgard's axe and shield all looked polished, sharpened, and battle-ready. "I think we're good," she said.

"Okay, then… Hold on tight! We're about to take off!"

The caravan left its station with a sudden start, causing the team's cargo to shake wildly. Things started to settle down once it had pulled away from Garreg Mach, as the roads were less rocky, allowing the girls to keep themselves steady.

"Sorry about the bumpy start," said the driver. "I have to speed things up because we're running a little behind."

Monica felt secure sitting next to Edelgard and Ingrid. It was quite cramped, but at least she didn't have to worry about falling off.

"So, Monica," said Leonie, "who was that girl you were talking to earlier?"

"You mean Connie?" Monica responded. "She needed some help buying a rare book, so I gave her a little bit of money."

"Not too much, I hope. You can't be too careful with money these days, especially when Anna and rare goods are involved."

"She gave you her name already? That was fast," said Ingrid. "Are you really going to try to write her back?"

"Of course!" said Monica. "I mean, wouldn't _you _do the same if you met someone you thought you might be interested in?"

"Wait a minute...why are you asking me that question? _You're _the one she was talking to!"

Edelgard started to sink deep in thought. "The name 'Connie' sounds familiar to me," she said. "Or is it really 'Constance'? And that dress she was wearing… It looked almost like an academy uniform. Was she a former student here? I'll have to look into this later."

The caravan stopped at a clearing several miles northwest of the monastery. "Looks like it's getting pretty late," said the driver as he pulled his horses off to the side for feeding. "Let's set up camp here."

"I'm on it," said Leonie as she unloaded the tent. Monica had to step back to avoid being hit in the head as the tent came out.

"Whoa! You actually have a tent that big, Leonie?" asked Monica.

"It's not mine. Captain Jeralt let me borrow it for this journey. I don't want to get yelled at if anything happens to it, so _be careful._"

It took the girls some time to pitch their tent because they had to do it with only the aid of a lantern and a campfire to light their way. After a quick sweep of the area to ensure they wouldn't get attacked in their sleep, they gathered around their campfire and ate some dried meat skewers. Ingrid and Leonie enjoyed them the most, while Edelgard and Monica, who were used to eating more refined foods, found them tolerable, but nothing special.

They all took their sleeping bags inside the tent and huddled up together, sleeping under the clouds. Monica had a good night's sleep for the first time in days. She tried to weave her friends into her dream, but she forgot all about it by the time she woke up and the first rains fell.

"Just what we needed," she complained.

The group tried to shake down some apples from the nearby trees, with Edelgard using her shield to push the tree more forcefully. After they had eaten, they packed up their tent and shoved it back onto the caravan as the driver readied his horses to move on to their next destination.

As Edelgard, Ingrid, and Leonie exchanged stories of the missions they had been on since the beginning of the school year, Monica felt sad that she had missed so many opportunities to experience them firsthand. When they passed by the mouth of a cave on the side of the road, they knew they were approaching Fódlan's Fangs. It was at that moment that Monica felt a growing sense of dread.

She had been on this road before.

* * *

It happened on a rare break between missions. Monica and the other Black Eagles had been given permission to return to their homes for a week-long holiday. She planned to visit her father in his masonry in the mountains and aid him with the post-war reconstruction in one of the surrounding villages.

When her caravan had reached the cave marking the entrance to Fódlan's Fangs, she heard something following them.

A half-dozen black-cloaked figures spilled out of the cave, chasing after Monica and her caravan on steeds of their own. She yelled for the driver to speed up and find a way to ditch them. He was riding as fast as he possibly could, but the cloaked horsemen were faster. They trailed the caravan for another mile or so without doing anything, but it turned out that they didn't need to.

Three more black-cloaked mages emerged from the forest up ahead to cut off any possible escape routes. The caravan reared to a sudden halt as both groups of mages rushed Monica and her driver, incapacitating both of them before she had a chance to draw her sword. She wondered why they didn't just kill her on the spot instead of dragging her all the way back to the cave from which the first group emerged.

* * *

It wasn't just the memory of her ambush that made Monica feel uneasy… it was the smell. It smelled like..._ death._

Surprisingly, none of the girls had seen any fresh corpses along the trail. Edelgard noticed several unusually shaped dirt patches along the road...like something had recently been buried.

"I think we might be getting close to our target," she said. "Ready your weapons, everyone."

Edelgard's suspicion was well-founded as the caravan came to a stop in the middle of a road near another cave opening.

"Honestly, boss," said a voice from up ahead. "Can't we move on to another spot?"

"Those sound like the bandits we're looking for," whispered Ingrid.

"For the last time, no!" shouted another.

"But we haven't found anything but letters and books on this trail for the last week," said a third voice. "Where's all the gems? The coins? Stuff we can sell to buy a decent meal? I can't _eat _paper!"

_Did that bandit just say 'letters'?_, Monica thought.

"That's your problem...you don't appreciate the value of a good book," said the boss bandit. "You can learn a lot about the world if you read the right books...what its cultures are like. How to cook your own meals instead of relying on the gruel they serve in the dungeons. The sound it makes when it connects with someone's head for asking dumb questions!"

Monica peered around the side of the caravan to see if the boss would actually whack one of her subordinates on the head with the book in her hand. She didn't, but they certainly cowered like they expected her to do it.

The leader of the bandits obstructing their path was a woman in tattered mage's robes slightly older than Edelgard. She was flanked by a muscular woman with a rusted axe on her left, and a lithe man with a bow and arrows on her right. To take all three of them out would have been trivial for a group of four. The boss wasn't about to make it easy for them.

"You there!" she said to the driver. "Hand over all your cargo, and I _might _let you scamper away with your tail between your legs."

"I don't have any cargo!" the driver yelped as he watched the archer draw his bow and aim it at his head. "You wouldn't want what's back there! Trust me!"

The mage bandit stared menacingly at the driver and motioned for the axe-wielder to slowly circle around the caravan to inspect it. "Oh, you wouldn't be _lying _to me, would you? Because empty caravans don't hold much value to me. They tend to catch fire easily... _and so do their drivers._"

"I'm telling the truth! There's nothing worth stealing in here!"

Sensing that the bandits had their caravan surrounded, Monica and her friends hugged the inner walls of the caravan and waited for the axe-wielding brigand to come into view. They had the element of surprise on their side. She was big and strong, but even she had to know she couldn't take on all four of them at once.

"Well, wouldn't you know...maybe the idiot was right after all," said the brigand. "It's just a bunch of academy kids."

"How disappointing," said the leader. "Guess we'll just have to trash everything, then."

The brigand raised her axe and took a crosswise swipe at the party, so fast that it threatened to split them all in two if they had only been a few inches closer. Monica drew her sword and brought it down on the opening between the brigand's neck and her shoulder guard. A strike like that was just enough to disable Dorothea in practice, so she could only imagine how much it would have hurt with a real sword.

The brigand tried to ignore the wound and attack again, but Ingrid struck her in the face with the side of her spear, sending her reeling and opening her up for a finishing strike from Edelgard.

"'Just academy kids', huh?" Monica taunted as the first brigand breathed her last. She knew she had to stay vigilant, for there were at least two more bandits still standing in front of their caravan, threatening their driver's life.

An arrow tore through the canopy of the caravan, causing the rain to leak on everyone's gear.

"Whoops! My hand slipped," said the archer.

As he prepared to fire another arrow, Leonie shot an arrow of her own toward the archer, only for it to be intercepted by one of three beefy brawlers who had emerged from the cave. "You ruined my shot!" she yelled, scowling at the bandit with an arrow stuck in his right upper arm. "And my tent!"

"We're gonna ruin a whole lot more than that in a moment!" said another angry brawler.

The bandits formed a blockade on both sides of the caravan to prevent the party from interfering as they tried to rough up the caravan driver. The mage leader couldn't follow through on her threat to burn down the caravan because of the rain, so she settled for blasting the driver off his carriage with a cutting gale.

Not one to let his charges do all the work for him, the driver rolled over and picked up the shield he had strapped to his back, using it to block the other bandits' onslaught of arrows and wind blasts. Once he found his footing, he used his shield to stagger the brawler blocking Edelgard and Leonie. Edelgard took advantage of the opportunity and shoved the bandit again with her shield before cutting through his armor with her axe. She tumbled to the ground after a hard low kick from the brawler, giving Leonie a clear shot at his head.

On the other side, Monica and Ingrid had to deal with the other two brawlers, including the one Leonie had shot earlier. Ingrid and Monica kept their weapons close to their bodies to keep them from getting stolen. Neither they nor the surviving bandits were ready to drop their guards until Monica came up with an idea.

"Edelgard! A little help?" she shouted.

The brawlers took that as a sign that the girls were going to bring their heaviest-armored member to absorb the punches for them, and rushed to take the lightly-armored ones out before Edelgard could show up.

Monica didn't intend on waiting.

She just needed one of them to make a mistake so she could create an opening and break the stalemate.

As soon as one of the brawlers raised his left hand to throw a punch, Monica dodged left and slashed him twice across his exposed arm, and then stabbed him in it for good measure. His partner smacked her in the face with the back of his steel gauntlet-plated hand in retaliation, prompting Ingrid to jump in and assist Monica by stabbing him in the side with her spear. Edelgard didn't come to their aid, for she and Leonie had already closed in on the archer and subdued him, with the princess snapping his bow underneath her foot.

That left only the lead mage to deal with. She started to back away from the group, her confidence shaken and her allies lying broken and beaten on the road around their caravan.

"You may as well give up now," said Ingrid. "I doubt you have enough magic to fight all four of us at once."

"I would suggest a peaceful surrender if you wish to avoid the fate of your henchmen," said Edelgard.

The mage looked around at the dead and dying bodies, realizing that she had been defeated when even the caravan driver, who should logically have been the easiest mark, had pitched in to help his passengers. "Fine...you win," she said, tossing her magic tome at the party's feet. It was a pretty valuable book, from the look of it - a tome called _Howling Winds of Fódlan_, with a cover similar to the book Constance had purchased.

"Where's the rest of it?" Monica wanted to know.

"In there," the mage said, pointing toward the cave where the three brawlers emerged in the middle of their fight.

There weren't any guards nearby to handle their new prisoner, so Edelgard and Ingrid stood by and tied her up while Monica and Leonie investigated the stash hidden in the cave.

Inside, they found several bags and splintered crates full of weapons, letters, and books of varying importance and value. The items that caught Monica's attention the most were a small bundle of letters in one of the bags, all addressed to her from her father. None of the letters appeared to be dated, but it was clear that her father had been trying to contact her multiple times, and _someone _didn't want her to receive the message. She worried that the bandits that had been terrorizing the area had stolen some of _her _letters to the baron, and continued frantically rooting through the stolen merchandise hoping to find something.

"Monica, what are you doing?" asked Leonie.

"My father…" said Monica. "I need to speak to my father! No...I want to _see _him and let him know that I'm okay."

"Well, you're not going to find him in any of those bags or crates...I hope."

Monica and Leonie grew more frustrated as their search for the missing letters continued to come up empty. "I know that! I just...I just…"

Realizing how much of a mess they were making, they put as many of the letters as they could find back into their containers for the guards to recover. "Maybe we'll find him if we keep moving on ahead," said Leonie. "Our mission only required us to defeat the bandits, but I have a feeling that there's something fishy going on if these bandits went through the trouble of attacking couriers on this route."

Everyone filed back into the leaky caravan, guiding the bandit leader in first so they could keep an eye on her as they continued up the road. Monica did her best to heal the cuts and bruises everyone suffered during the battle, and then drank a potion to ease the pain from her own wounds since she couldn't use her healing spell on herself. The adrenaline rush from her first battle had worn off, leaving her in need of a short rest.

"How far do you think we are to the nearest village?" she asked the driver.

"Probably a couple more miles, if that," he said. "You think they'll be able to send someone to clean up those dead bodies?"

"I'm sure that even a small village has its own security patrol," said Ingrid. "It would be nice if they had someone to guard this area to keep these bandits from coming back."

Monica turned to the captured bandit leader, who found a way to sit herself upright while her hands were tied to her back. "Hey, you! What do you know about those letters stashed away in that cave, huh?"

"Search me," said the mage. "It's not like I read what's inside those envelopes anyway. I just come along to rob whatever comes down this road."

"What for? Who sent you?"

The mage sneered back at the others. "Hey! That's none of your business!"

"We'll find out one way or another," said Edelgard. "The Imperial court won't go as easy on you for your crimes as we did."

"You think killing off my men is 'going easy on me'? You academy chumps have a sick sense of humor."

"You attacked us first!" Monica snapped.

"It doesn't matter who attacked who," said Ingrid. "All that matters is that this road is open for travel and commerce again."

"And _you're _going to stay far away from it!" said Leonie.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," said the mage as she struggled to undo her bindings. She _really _wanted to kick the red-haired one and send her tumbling onto the side of the road, but knew that the others would pounce upon her in seconds if she tried anything funny. "Just keep kicking me while I'm down, why don't ya?"

The road beneath them had changed over from mud and gravel to smooth stone. Monica looked out of her side of the caravan and spotted a few brick houses and a windmill off in the distance.

"Hey, I know this place!" she said. "That's Drachen Village!"

"Right you are, young lady," said the driver. "This your stop?"

"Yes, sir."

"Got it. I'll pull in here and see if I can't get this canopy patched up."

The caravan pulled into a fenced-in section on the outskirts of the village, where Monica and the others jumped out to stretch. They even undid the bandit mage's foot bindings and kept a close eye on her as they looked for whatever passed for a holding station.

"Don't even think about running away," Edelgard warned her.

She found a trio of armored guards with swords and spears and explained everything they encountered on their way to Drachen Village - the mage, the pack of bandits they killed, and the large stash of stolen merchandise containing weeks' worth of shipments in a cave to the east. With the prisoner off their hands, they were free to focus on finding a contact for their mission.

"This place kinda reminds me of my home village," said Leonie. "Is this where your father lives, Monica?"

"Yeah. He opened up a workshop here a year after our castle fell," said Monica. "He said he wanted to help rebuild every last house in the area, even if it killed him."

Leonie was surprised. Compared to her personal goal of repaying her tuition by sending back some of the money she made from quests and Monica's goal of surviving long enough to graduate, the baron's goal of literally rebuilding his war-torn land from the bottom up was impressive in scope. "That sounds like a lot of work for one guy."

"Oh, he's not doing it _all _by himself. He's got plenty of talented stonecutters and miners to help him out."

They walked around the village some more until they spotted a man wearing the same white outfit as Anna. "Are you the ones from Garreg Mach who routed the bandits?" he asked.

"Yes. Their leader is in holding and awaiting transport back to the capital as we speak," said Edelgard.

The merchant hastily bowed when he looked at Edelgard's uniform and realized he was in the presence of a princess. "Oh! Your Highness! I didn't expect to see you all the way out here! Thank you all very much for your assistance." He handed her a pouch full of gold coins, which she then split evenly among her comrades.

"Think nothing of it, she said. "We were merely doing a service to maintain the peace for this area. I'm sure Anna will appreciate having this trade route open again so she can continue receiving her shipments."

The merchant started to return to his stall when Monica tapped him on the shoulder. "Excuse me… Can you direct us to the Ochs Stonesmithing Workshop?" she asked.

"You want to speak to the baron? He's a very busy man," said the merchant, "and he doesn't have much time to speak to just _anyone_."

"Would he make an exception for his missing-and-presumed-dead daughter who just fought her way through a small pack of bandits to get here?"

The merchant couldn't believe it. News of Monica's return hadn't made it to Drachen Village, or very far at all past Garreg Mach, for that matter. He knew he had to be wary of people pretending to be related to influential figures, but if word ever got out that he turned away the baron's daughter from seeing her father, then losing his market stall would have been the least of his worries. "Wait...are you saying _you're_…?"

"Monica von Ochs? Daughter of Baron Nicolaus the First, student at the Garreg Mach Officers Academy, and liberator of trade routes? Yes… Yes, I am."

Monica wished she had a card with her portrait on it to show to the merchant, but until photographic duplication technology became a reality, her flowery self-description would have to serve as her proof of identification when it was clear that just saying "It's me, Monica" wouldn't cut it.

"My apologies, milady," he said after finally shaking the "just seen a ghost" look off his face. "Right this way, please."


	9. Monica and the Baron

_EDIT (5/14/2020): Changed "...since the start of..." to "...since [Monica's] disappearance."_

* * *

The merchant led Monica and her friends to a mid-sized outdoor hut with a sign bearing a chisel and pickaxe. There were four men and one woman grinding, brushing, carving, and shaping large slabs of stone into more manageable bricks. They all appeared to be taking orders from a tall, broad-shouldered man with wavy, dirty blond hair.

"Father? I'm home!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing the moment Monica called out for the tall man's attention. He spent a moment scanning her up and down, and then dropped his chisel and approached her with his arms wide open.

"Monica! It really is you!" he said, simultaneously laughing and sounding like he was going to have the loudest cry of his life. Monica was unable to hold back her own tears as she wrapped her arms around her father for the first time since her disappearance. "My precious little jewel's come back at last! Do you have any idea how long it's been? When I heard that your caravan disappeared on your way up here, I thought that I'd never see you again!"

"I felt the same way when those creepy-masked people took me away," Monica sobbed. "I did my best to fight back, but there was only so much I could do."

Nicolaus released his grip on his daughter for a moment and placed his large hands on her shoulders. "Look at it this way, Monica… You managed to hold on long enough against those monsters that captured you, right? And you fought your way through bandits just to get up here, didn't you? It sounds to me like you've grown plenty strong already!"

Monica wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to laugh. "Yeah...I guess it does, doesn't it?"

"It looks like you've made some new friends along the way, too. And one of them's the emperor's daughter? This must be my lucky day!" The baron laughed out loud, calming down quickly when he saw his employees bowing before Edelgard.

"I appreciate your...fervor, Lord Ochs," said Edelgard. "We are happy that we were able to help you and your daughter reunite after spending so long apart."

"Her Highness and I are in the same class this year," said Monica. "And Father, I'd also like you to meet Ingrid and Leonie. They helped me get situated when I returned to the academy, and we all fought off the bandits together."

Leonie, who hadn't spent as much time dealing with nobles as the rest of the girls, had to be reminded to curtsy before the baron. Ingrid found it easier to do with the skirt in her school uniform, something Leonie lacked.

"Pleased to meet you," said Ingrid.

"We were worried that something might have happened to you," said Leonie, "but it looks like you're doing pretty well for yourself up here."

"It's nice to see you all getting along so nicely," said Nicolaus. "Tell you what...since you ladies went through the trouble of coming up this way, why don't I treat you all to dinner? I'll bet you're tired and hungry from all that traveling and bandit hunting. We can't promise anything fancy, though."

"I don't mind," said Edelgard. "Thank you for your offer."

"I really didn't want the stuff we brought with us to go to waste," said Leonie, "but I can always eat some of it later."

"Very good. We'll meet at the inn around sunset. Got a lot of work to do, you know?"

Nicolaus ordered his employees to get back to work while Monica and her friends returned to the caravan to clean the blood from their weapons. There were only one or two locations they could visit since the villagers of Drachen were wary of allowing any outsiders, even those from high-ranking noble families as Edelgard, to enter their homes. The rain continued to fall, limiting their options for what they could do outside. Monica tried to catch some cool and refreshing rainwater in her hands and wash some of the mud and sweat from her face. It was the least she could do to try to get clean until they could take proper baths later on.

They met with Nicolaus at the inn as planned. There were only two vacancies and not enough beds for all four of them to sleep on. "Looks like we'll be sleeping in the caravan tonight," said Ingrid.

"It's better than sleeping in the dirt, I guess," said Monica.

The innkeeper and the cook both bowed when they saw Nicolaus approach the counter. "Good evening, my lord," said the innkeeper. "What'll you be having tonight?"

"One special, big enough for five," he said as he passed a small stack of gold coins to her.

"You got it! Just sit tight and we'll bring it over," said the cook.

The baron borrowed a chair from one of the empty tables to give everyone a place to sit down without getting separated. Monica was tempted to sit next to her father while she ate, but she felt more comfortable sitting across from him so she could look directly at him while she talked.

"Father, did you get any of the letters I sent you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did," said Nicolaus. "I wasn't sure it was really you until I saw the letter from the church that came with it. Did you get my response?"

"No, I didn't, but...um… Edelgard, why don't you tell him what happened?"

"We discovered a stash of letters in a cave on our way up here," said Edelgard. "Some of them were addressed to Monica and written by you. Is it possible that you wrote at least one of those recently?"

"Maybe," said Nicolaus. "I write lots of letters, though. I don't know what idiot's going around robbing caravans to deprive people of their mail. Why are they all the way out here? What do they get out of it?"

"We're still trying to figure out the reason ourselves. We found and arrested the leader of the group of bandits we encountered, but it doesn't look like she's willing to talk."

"She knows she'll be in serious trouble if she tells who's really calling the shots," said Ingrid.

About twenty minutes later, a waitress came out with a well-done steak, sliced into several thin pieces for everyone to eat. "Here you go...one giant beast steak," she said.

"Ooh...this looks delicious!" said Monica. "I can't wait to have some."

"Go ahead and dig in," said her father. "You've earned it, after all."

Monica cut her steak into smaller portions, savoring every bite as best she could. Edelgard looked down at her steak, struggling to decide whether or not to eat it.

"I don't mean to be ungrateful, Lord Ochs," said Edelgard, gently shoving her plate in his direction, "but I think I'll have to pass."

"Something wrong, Your Highness?" asked Nicolaus.

"I'm...not much of a meat-eater. While I _had_ eaten some meat rations on our journey up here, I didn't enjoy them, but they were all we had at the time."

The baron nodded and took Edelgard's uneaten steak slice and added it to his plate, adding some salt for flavor. "Let's get you something that's more to your tastes, then. It wouldn't be fair for you to go hungry while your friends eat."

He got up from the table to talk to the cook again, sliding him some more gold coins. After waiting for several more minutes, their waitress returned with a bowl of mixed vegetable salad, which Edelgard was more willing to eat. "Thank you," she said.

After everyone had finished their meals, the girls looked for a bathhouse to wash themselves off and clean up for their journey home. They were given matching red sleeveless tunics to wear for the evening while the maids dry-cleaned and stitched their academy uniforms back together.

When they finished changing clothes, the baron led them to a mid-sized house on the northern edge of the village, a few blocks away from his workshop.

"Is this where you live, Monica?" asked Ingrid. "It looks very...rustic."

"Yeah," Monica lamented. "Once a year, anyway. It's a far cry from our old castle, but for better or worse, it's mine."

"I wish I'd known you were coming home sooner, Monica," said Nicolaus. "I'd have looked for a few extra makeshift beds so you and your friends wouldn't have to waste money at the inn or sleep outdoors in the rain."

"It's okay, Father. We already decided that we'd be sleeping out tonight. Is it okay if they look around for a bit?"

"There's not much to look at, really, but knock yourselves out."

The girls all wiped their feet on the welcome mat before entering the common room, where they saw a picture of the old Ochs Castle hanging on the wall by the fireplace. To the right of the dinner table was a bookshelf populated with books on everything from children's bedtime stories to defensive swordplay to house repair. The room closest to the kitchen, toward the rear of the house, was reserved for Monica during her annual visits, and only had a small bed and a bookshelf filled with books on eleventh-century military and cultural developments.

"Everything's just as you left it from last time," said Nicolaus. "I had to do some regular dusting to make sure the books and the bed weren't ruined, but I didn't touch anything else."

"It looks great! Thank you," said Monica as she picked up a book with a black feather sticking out. It contained essays from the literature classes she had taken prior to joining the Officers Academy. _Wow...my handwriting was a lot better back then_, she thought.

"Don't get too used to it, though. In a couple of years, we'll be back in our castle, and it'll be better than new! Just you wait!"

"How much more work do you have to do on it?" asked Leonie.

The baron sat down at the table with the other girls while Monica continued to look around. "Too much," he said. "And that's not counting all the requests I'm still getting to repair broken window frames, replaced jammed doors, and so on. I don't mind helping other people rebuild, but I could certainly do without Duke Gerth and his kids checking up on me every few weeks. Just because he bailed my soldiers out after the war, he walks around and acts like he owns the place. Sometimes I think I'd rather deal with the Brigidians...at least _they_ won't try to annoy me with lectures on 'deadlines' and 'duty' and other such nonsense."

Edelgard shook her head and groaned. "I've had some unpleasant dealings with the Duke, to put it lightly. Compared to the other members of the court, he's relatively harmless, but I would still keep my guard up around him."

"I'd bet that if someone had given him a good knock on the head or something similar when he was younger, he wouldn't feel the need to boss people around now."

"I can assure you that Duke Gerth can't and won't keep this up forever," she said. "He knows that if he slips up and pushes too far, someone will come after him."

Nicolaus went to check on his daughter, who looked like she was about to fall asleep after lying down on the bed while reading an article from one of her books. He wasn't sure whether to attribute it to boredom or travel fatigue.

"Monica? Sweetie?" he said quietly. "I know it's getting late, but didn't you say you were going to sleep out in the caravan with your friends tonight?"

Monica lifted the book from her face and got up to return it to its shelf. "Tell them I'll be out in a few minutes," she said.

The baron nodded and left the room to meet the other girls. "Monica and I are going to have a little bit of father-daughter time, if that's okay with you ladies," he said.

"Yes! I understand completely," said Ingrid. "Thank you for inviting us, sir."

"And thank you for taking good care of my daughter after her...ordeal. She's fortunate to have friends like you."

"It's our pleasure," said Leonie.

"Do you think you'll have time to visit us at the academy?" asked Edelgard.

"I'll see what I can do," said Nicolaus. "I may have to close the workshop for a few days, and that's going to set back redevelopment efforts quite a bit. That said, I think it's high time me and my workers took a break. I know they'd appreciate the time off."

"We look forward to seeing you again, Lord Ochs. If there is anything you need at all, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"As long as it doesn't involve anything crazy, you have my support."

After Edelgard, Ingrid, and Leonie left to return to the caravan, Monica and her father went back out to sit at the dining table. "So, how does it feel to be back home, sweetie?" he asked.

"I'm...kinda conflicted, really," said Monica. "I've made quite a few friends since I came back, but I'd never imagined that I'd make as many enemies. Candace, the Death Knight, that zombie girl - 'Kronya', I think they called her - and now the bandits that tried to steal your mail. Why does it feel like so many people have it in for us?"

"It's probably because we live so far from the capital that we won't be able to quickly call for backup in case something happens. The duke and his friends were nice enough to send soldiers to ward off Brigid after I sent about a dozen requests for aid, and _after_ the Brigidians had driven us from our castle..."

The memory of being humiliated and abandoned by Duke Gerth and the rest of the Imperial court drove Nicolaus to pound his fist on the table, rattling the plates, the silverware, and his daughter.

"So when the rubble cleared and the duke's soldiers left the area," he continued after taking a moment to calm down, "I decided that since he and Lord Arundel weren't interested in helping me rebuild my land, I was going to do it my way. That's why I moved out here and used much of what was left in our treasury to build a workshop and hire as many able-bodied workers as possible to rebuild every last one of the houses that Brigid destroyed, from base to roof."

"Well, I'm proud of you, Father," said Monica. "I just wish I had the courage to stand up to Candace for screwing me over back then, like you're doing with this project."

"That's why you're at the Officers Academy now, isn't it? When it comes time for you to inherit the barony, you'll need to know how to take measures to secure your power base. Knowing how to handle yourself in a fight is one thing, but you also have to learn how to positively influence the hearts and minds of those who serve you. Build lasting friendships with the people closest to you. Learn what they're good at so that you can effectively use their strengths when you need their help. Know who your enemies are and how they operate. Know the difference between who you want to fight, who you _can_ fight, and who you _should_ fight. That sort of thing."

Monica hadn't been around Edelgard or the others long enough to know how well she could trust them, but she felt comfortable enough around them to consider them her friends. She knew who her enemies were, but dealing with them was more complicated.

Candace had inherited Duke Gerth's leadership skills, but the arrogance she developed as the former Black Eagles leader was all her own. Monica was thankful they hadn't run into each other again since her return to Garreg Mach. As far as she knew, Candace wasn't physically dangerous...just bothersome.

The bandit leader had already been dealt with, though her identity and motives remained a mystery for the moment.

Also as mysterious was the Death Knight. Anyone who called themselves anything with the word "death" in it was not to be messed with, especially when they had killed ten soldiers in the Church of Seiros' mission to rescue Flayn. As dangerous as he sounded, one had to wonder why he kidnapped Flayn in the first place, or why he only wounded Manuela instead of killing her. Was he holding back his full strength against them on purpose?

That only left Kronya.

Monica had only heard of the danger the Death Knight posed through second-hand accounts from the Knights of Seiros. With Kronya, she had witnessed it first-hand.

Worse yet...she had _felt _it.

Monica remembered the piercing stare Kronya gave when she thought a prisoner, or "test subject", as she liked to call them, was disobeying orders. The shrill cackle whenever Kronya vented by cutting or stabbing someone - usually Monica - gave her chills. Just thinking about the name alone made Monica seethe with anger.

Every scar Monica bore had Kronya's unnatural knife imprint on it. If her fate was to die in any of the seemingly infinite tunnels she was forced to walk through to thwart any rescue attempts, at least she'd go out knowing she got a few good shots in, wounding Kronya with one of her own knives.

By some miracle of the goddess, Monica had made it out of there.

Unfortunately, so did Kronya.

She was certainly still on the loose somewhere, looking for new victims and leaving behind the bodies of those who didn't meet her "standards"...whatever they were. Wherever she was, she had to be stopped, and Monica wanted to be the one to do it.

Monica didn't want to look too far into the future. Kronya's time would come, but there were more immediate matters for her to deal with. She still had a report to give, as well as an exam to pass.

"We're probably going to leave for Garreg Mach early tomorrow morning," said Monica. "Will you come to see us off before you go to work, Father?"

"Of course I will, sweetie," said Nicolaus. "Your uniforms should be ready to go by then. They'll be stitched together so well that you won't be able to tell they were damaged!"

Monica and her father got up from the table and embraced in a tight hug. "Take care of yourself out there, Monica."

"I will, Father. I promise."


	10. After-Action Report

The next morning before he started his shift, Nicolaus went to the girls' patched-up caravan and handed them their school uniforms. He didn't want to say goodbye to his daughter so soon after she returned, but he knew that they both had a lot of work to do - the baron with his workshop and Monica with her studies.

After finding a place to change back into their academy uniforms, Monica and her friends departed for Garreg Mach, once again thanking Nicolaus for his hospitality. With the defeat of the bandits, the road was mostly safe for people and carriages to travel. There was still a bit of anxiety over whether any new bandits would attempt to replace the ones they defeated the previous day, so they kept their weapons close by in case something happened.

By the time the caravan returned to the monastery, the week had almost concluded. Monica had missed out on a lot of study time, and her window to pass the Priest certification exam and catch up with the rest of her house before the Battle of the Eagle and Lion was shrinking. She spent most of her ride back wondering what her next lesson would entail.

Byleth and Anna were waiting for them once they entered the market, along with two boys wearing blue- and gold-colored academy uniforms. Monica assumed that they, like Edelgard, were the leaders of the other academy houses - Dimitri of the Blue Lions, and Claude of the Golden Deer. If she was able to befriend Edelgard, then she felt like she might also be able to get along with the other two lords.

"There you are!" said Claude. "Been wondering when you'd get back. Did everything go okay up there?"

"It's okay _now_," said Leonie, "but we met with a little bit of resistance on the way up."

"It looked like the bandits had been attacking mail carriers along the western roads," said Ingrid, "stealing magic books and letters."

"These bandit types just don't know when to give up," said Claude. "At least there's one less group of them skulking about now."

"I'm glad to see that none of you was seriously injured," said Dimitri.

"You guys did a great job out there," said Anna. "Okay, maybe I'm just saying that because I wasn't actually here to watch you fight, but the boxes of unspoiled merchandise that came in a few days ago are the only evidence I need."

"Thank you. Uh...forgive me for not properly introducing myself before," said Monica as she curtsied before Anna and the other two lords. "My name's Monica. Pleased to meet you all."

"Monica, huh? I have a couple of things for you...from that blonde girl from last week."

Anna reached into her satchel and handed Monica an envelope and a small cubic package, both signed in fancy script writing by one "Constance von Nuvelle". Monica was excited to hear back from Constance so soon, as well as anxious to find out what kind of gift she received.

"It's kinda weird that the Black Eagles now have nine star students and we only get eight," said Claude. "I'm not sure what this means for the balance of power for the rest of the school year. Sorry...where are my manners? I'm Claude von Riegan, and the guy standing to my right is Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd. Welcome aboard! Or should I say, 'welcome back'?"

"Thanks," said Monica. "I don't think it'll matter as long as we don't have to fight each other a second time."

"You've got a sense of humor, too? It's nice to know that _someone_ else around here does."

Dimitri turned to Claude and looked like he was going to shoot him a disapproving look, but instead, he sighed to avoid looking like he took offense. "Er...regardless, I think you've all earned yourselves a rest after all that traveling. I just finished a long training session, so I think I'm going to relax in the knights' chamber with a good book. Would you care to join me, Ingrid?"

"Sounds good to me," said Ingrid.

"I suppose I could do with a little time off myself," said Leonie. "Personally, I'd rather be out there sharpening my skills, but I don't want to tire myself out. See you later!"

As Ingrid and Leonie left the market area to meet with their house leaders, Monica walked along with Byleth and Edelgard to the monastery's common room. The fancy red carpet and the candle-like lighting on the walls only obscured how intimidating the place looked from Monica's perspective. The ceiling was way too high for her liking, especially looking at it from the bottom of the stairs where it looked like it would take at least ten regular-sized people stacked on top of each other to reach the top.

The trio walked up to the middle tier of stairs, where they figured they would be reasonably far enough out of the way of the Knights or any other visitors to carry on a conversation.

"It looks like your first mission was successful," said Byleth. "How do you feel?"

"I was worried at first," said Monica, "but I'm relieved that I got a chance to see my father."

"Your father?"

Edelgard stepped forward to give her teacher a report on the situation. "It was originally believed that House Ochs had been completely wiped out in the war that brought Petra to us. But now that Monica has been rescued and we had the chance to visit the baron in a village in the mountains, it's clear that wasn't the case. Lord Ochs himself is personally overseeing the reconstruction effort. It might be a good idea to try to get to know him, Professor."

"We'll see. I might talk to him if he's willing to come to visit the monastery."

"There was another house involved in that war," Edelgard added. "Nuvelle, I believe it was called…"

Monica had done her best to keep the packages she'd received from Constance out of sight from everyone. She had no idea that the young woman with the charming smile she met in the market was also connected to the Dagda and Brigid War. There was a good chance that Constance had lost friends and family to that war, so Monica decided not to say anything about it to her unless she broached the subject first.

"That reminds me," said Monica. "I need to write a letter to someone. May I be excused, Professor?"

Byleth looked at Edelgard and shrugged, and then turned to Monica and said, "I suppose so. The week's almost over, so there's not much for me to teach you today. Do what you feel you need to do, but don't forget about your lesson plan, now!"

Monica nodded and headed upstairs, looking for the quickest route to her dorm room.

"Monica certainly seems to have quickly acclimated herself to school life," said Byleth.

"Yes...and she performed quite well against the bandits we fought," said Edelgard. "Do you think she'll be ready to fully join the fold soon?"

"It should be no problem, as long as she passes this next test."

* * *

Back in the safety of her room, Monica rested her longsword in the corner next to her closet, reminding herself to visit the blacksmith to have it sharpened for her next battle. She sat down at her desk and prepared a pen and sheet of paper to write her response letter to Constance. The small box Monica got from Anna dared her to open it, but she wanted to read the letter first to see if it offered a clue to its contents.

_Dear Monica,_

_I am writing to thank you again for your assistance last week. The book you helped me purchase has proven to be a boon for my magical research. I just can't wait to try it out!_

_As a token of my gratitude for being such a "doll", I bought you a "little" something to display on your desk at the academy. I hope it is to your liking._

_If you can spare the time, would you care to meet in person so that we can get to know each other better, and perhaps even discuss our latest exploits? I know of a quiet location in town that is just perfect for this endeavor! Please write back as soon as you read this._

_Sincerely,_

_Connie_

The quotes around "little" and "doll" were hard to miss, leading Monica to believe that Constance had bought her a figurine of some sort. There was nothing else in the letter hinting at the exact contents of the package, but she was happy to receive it even if her intuition was wrong.

The last paragraph of the letter intrigued Monica the most. It sounded like Constance was asking her out on a date. Monica's heart raced at the prospect of being courted - she was still technically a teenager, after all - but even in the confines of her bedroom, she knew she had to stay calm. It was difficult to write an affirmative response letter when she was too busy daydreaming.

She picked up the small package and started to open it when Flayn arrived at her door. "Monica! How are you doing today?" she asked in her usual cheerful tone.

"It's been a pretty wild week," said Monica, unraveling the bow on her package. "I camped out, fought some bandits, visited my father, and I got this gift from a nice young lady in the market. What have you been up to, Flayn?"

"My week has not been quite as eventful as yours was, but rest assured that I have not been sitting idly by. I have been helping my brother sort through registration papers from next year's applicants. It is a wonder he is able to handle so much paperwork all by himself."

Monica imagined Seteth sitting at the desk in his office, writing and stamping papers from sunrise to sunset. She found the idea a boring, but necessary evil in keeping the academy and the monastery operational. It was the same with House Ochs before its fall, except her father liked to delegate the bureaucratic tasks to other individuals more talented in such things, rather than taking it all on by himself.

"Anyway," said Flayn, "I came by to tell you that Seteth and Lady Rhea have been looking for you. We should go to the audience chamber at once!"

Monica followed Flayn to the upper level of the cathedral, slowly tearing the wrapping paper from her gift along the way. Inside the box was a statuette of a dark-skinned blond woman striking a battle-ready pose with a sword that looked even scarier than Byleth's sword, what with its hooks jutting out of the sides of the blade at uneven intervals. Her plate armor matched the armor worn by the Knights of Seiros, but most of them kept their faces and hair hidden by helmets. Not this lady. She was bold enough to go helmet-less and let her enemies know who was about to kill them. Monica thought she had seen her a few times before around the monastery but had yet to learn her name.

When Monica came face-to-face with Rhea and Seteth, she stuffed her knight figurine back into the gift box as quickly as possible before bowing and making a prayer gesture. "Did you call for me, Lady Rhea?" she asked.

"Yes," said Rhea. "I wanted to ask you how your studies were coming along. Are you getting along well with your classmates?"

"Some of them. I haven't had a chance to spend a lot of time with everyone yet."

"Then you should use any free moments you might find to get to know them as well as you can."

"I'll do my best, Lady Rhea."

"How is your father faring at the moment, Monica?" asked Seteth. "I had not heard anything after we mailed our first letters to him. Did he receive them?"

"He did, sir," said Monica. "He tried to send a response, but some bandits stole it. They didn't get very far with them, though. I helped make sure of that."

Seteth didn't approve of Monica's smile. It made her look like she and she alone solved the bandit problem. She quickly dropped it when she saw Seteth scowling at her.

"Right… At least now the baron is aware that you have returned safely. We will try to monitor the area to ensure that these attacks do not start up again. You are free to travel outside of the monastery on weekends with your professor's approval, so long as you keep up with your studies and you do not make your absences too frequent."

"That is all for now," said Rhea. "Thank you for your report. Seteth and I must prepare for next month's mission. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask Professor Eisner, Jeralt, or either one of us."

"Understood, Lady Rhea," said Monica.

* * *

As Monica returned to her dorm with Flayn, she learned that the likeness from her statuette was that of Catherine, the new captain of the Knights of Seiros and acting weapons instructor in the wake of Jeritza's sudden departure from Garreg Mach. Respected and feared in equal measures for her prowess on the battlefield, she was who Rhea turned to whenever judgment needed to be passed on enemies of the faith.

"I had no idea the Knights were this famous," said Monica. "Do you think Captain Jeralt has one of these things made for him?"

"It is possible, but it is hard to say for certain until we go shopping and find out for ourselves," said Flayn.

"The markets at the monastery gate don't seem to have much in the way of dolls and figurines, at least from what I've seen. We may have to go further into town to find some."

Once again, Monica was reminded of the letter she meant to write to Constance. She sat at her desk and wrote her response slowly and carefully, hoping that she would make a good second impression.

_Dear Connie,_

_Thank you very much for the gift. I'll keep this "little doll" on display as a reminder of our first meeting._

_I'm usually busy with school work or chores in the daytime, but I'm free to meet at any time afterward. Or weekends, if you prefer...weekends are an open day for everyone. Let me know what sounds good to you. I look forward to seeing you again._

_Sincerely,_

_Monica_

After writing her name on an envelope, Monica prepared to hand her letter off to a courier. While she owed Anna a debt for allowing her to meet Constance, Monica didn't want to rely on the merchant to facilitate _all_ of the communication between them. If any interesting developments happened with their relationship, Anna probably had her ear to the streets and would pick up on such gossip during her travels anyway.

"Oh...one more thing before I go," said Monica as she turned around to talk to Flayn before leaving her room. "I'm training to become a Priest to help out my house. Could you help me refine my healing magic so I can prepare for my exam?"

"I might be able to assist you," said Flayn, "but you will have to be more specific."

"Are there any spells you can learn to heal yourself?"

Flayn's eyes popped open when she heard Monica's request. "There _is_ one such spell...but its effects are quite unsettling. It is not a spell that should be taken lightly, even by experienced casters."


	11. The Goddess Helps Those Who Heal

_**Author's Note:** The full title of this chapter is "The Goddess Helps Those Who Heal Themselves"._

* * *

After dropping off her letter to Constance, Monica latched onto Flayn's assertion that someone _could_ heal themselves without the use of potions. She wanted to go to the library to research the idea, but by the time she returned to the dorm area, she saw Hubert standing outside her room carrying a handful of papers. "Out for a stroll, are we?" he asked.

"Actually, I was about to head off to the library," said Monica.

"Very good. Since you have made the wise decision to improve your study habits, I suggest you take these with you."

Hubert handed Monica the papers, which consisted of several pages of multiple-choice questions relating to such varied subjects as mathematics, applied physics, and battlefield tactics. "You want me to do your homework?"

"No," said Hubert, shaking his head. "The Professor wants you to do yours."

"But I just helped defeat a pack of bandits!" Monica protested. "Shouldn't that count for extra credit?"

"I know you've only been back at the academy for a few weeks, Monica, but you should know that everyone in the Black Eagles must offer their contributions to ensure that our house does not fall behind the others. Even something as mundane and seemingly pointless as standardized testing can prove useful if properly applied to real-world situations. Lady Edelgard and the Professor have high hopes for you. You would do well not to disappoint them."

Monica took the papers and spent the next few hours in the library alternating between catching up on her homework and looking for information on self-healing magic. She thought she was getting close to finding an answer, but most of the spellbooks in the "white magic" section were too advanced for her to understand. With Flayn not around to give her an immediate answer, Monica wrote a note for the confession booth hoping that someone else would know how it worked.

_Maybe if I sleep on it and _stop_ thinking about this for a while, I might be focused enough to figure it out later._

* * *

Monica couldn't completely drop the subject of healing when she woke up on Saturday morning. There weren't as many patients in the infirmary to heal since the last time she helped Manuela, but she felt like she was getting better with her magic. Her hands were less shaky than they were before, making it easier for her to close any wounds without making any mistakes. Healing magic was all she was allowed to use, as only Manuela was licensed to administer medicine or use any of the other medical tools in the office.

Byleth invited Monica to eat lunch with her that afternoon. It was customary for the professor to share meals with one or more of the students at least once every few weeks when she wasn't out on a mission. Many students noticed that she never ate the same meal twice. She didn't have a favorite food, nor was there anything she seemed to dislike. "She's a true gourmand if there ever was one," one chef said of her.

The dining hall had a special on fish dishes to help get rid of their unusually high stock. This intrigued Petra, who was used to eating meat and fish dishes back home in Brigid. Monica watched as she carried a plate with four sticks of fish dumplings on wooden skewers. "What do you have there, Petra?" she asked.

"The chef says it is called a 'spicy fish dango'," said Petra. "I do not have familiarity with this dish, but I would like to taste it."

"May I try one, too?"

"Yes. I ordered enough for everyone to eat."

Petra and Monica walked over to the table near the southern door, where Byleth and Hubert were sitting. Once they sat down, everyone took a small bite out of the fish skewers they were given. Monica paused as she watched the others eat their lunch freely. The spices that the chef used to season the dango were burning her mouth up, so she wound up chasing each bite with a sip of water. By the time her glass was empty, she had only eaten half of her meal.

"I'm surprised," said Hubert. "With all of the water you drank, I would have expected you to stop eating at some point and order a different meal. Then again, I suppose it is better to prepare in case of discomfort instead of putting on a false display of bravado and avoid drinking anything at all."

"I'm not bothered by the fish," said Monica. "That tastes fine… I still feel like I need a little more water after that, though."

"Some people take longer to develop tolerance to spicy foods than others," said Byleth. "Once you've had a couple of these, you start to forget how hot they can be after a while."

"Professor...would it be okay to be asking the chef for this recipe?" asked Petra as she wiped some crumbs from her face with a napkin. "I found it very tastefu-I mean, very tasty."

"I doubt he'd give it to you, but you can try."

Byleth waited for everyone to finish the food and drink before setting them aside for the cleanup crew.

"If I recall, Professor," said Hubert, "I understand you have another task for us."

Byleth nodded. "Yes...one more battle before the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Monica, you'll be joining us for this mission, so listen carefully. This will play a big part in your certification exam."

Monica smiled expectantly. Eating lunch with the professor and being selected to go out on a mission with the other Black Eagles made her feel like she was part of the team, rather than a mercenary who happened to be working for the Empire.

"On our last patrol of the area, we spotted a pack of wild beasts roaming the forest near the town," said Byleth. "Most of them prefer to stick to the forest to hunt for food, but some have appeared dangerously close to the town lately, and the Knights of Seiros are concerned that they may attack at any moment."

"I guess this means it's up to someone - probably us - to stop the beasts from getting in, right?" asked Monica.

"Correct. I would prefer to deal with the problem at its source, but we simply don't know where they are coming from yet."

"Monsters like this are very ferocious," said Petra, "but they are not good at moving with stealth. They are always leaving behind footprints or feathers."

"It should be trivial to find their lair once we clear out this pack," said Hubert. "The Knights should be able to take things from there once we are finished."

"Make sure you all have everything in order by tomorrow afternoon," said Byleth. "We'll head out to town and meet these monsters head-on."

Hubert and Monica nodded, thanked Petra for the meal, and went their separate ways for the day.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Monica received an anonymous note in response to her confession booth question. The handwriting on the note was simple, but the response read like the middle lines of a poem or an ancient prophecy.

_"For one to be sustained, another must be drained."_

The note looked cryptic to Monica at first glance, but after she spent a few moments thinking about it, it made a little bit of sense to her. Whenever she cast a healing spell on someone, it exhausted her afterward. Monica thought the inverse principle also had to be true to some extent. If there were spells that used the caster's energy to heal someone, then there had to be a similar spell that healed the caster at the cost of some of the energy of another living being.

As soon as Monica figured that she had the answer, more questions kept popping up. How much energy would such a spell take from its victim? Would the caster gain any benefit from the spell if they were already healthy? What side effects, if any, would the caster or the victim suffer? Was there any way to stop a caster from using it on multiple victims?

After visiting Byleth's office to turn in her homework, Monica looked around for Flayn. When she didn't find Flayn at their designated meeting spot in front of the fishing pond, Monica asked the gatekeeper standing outside the common area for directions, and he pointed her toward the stables. Ferdinand and Ingrid were also there, brushing and feeding their steeds.

"Monica! There you are!" said Ferdinand. "Have you prepared yourself for tomorrow's monster hunt?"

"I had a lot of paperwork to catch up on," said Monica, "so I've been in and out of the library and haven't had a chance to go to the training hall."

"At least you are keeping your mind as sharp as your sword. That is good."

"Speaking of swords… What can you tell me about the sword that the Professor is always carrying around? It doesn't look like any weapon I've ever seen before."

Ferdinand gasped. "I had almost forgotten that you have not yet seen the Sword of the Creator in action. It is a weapon as mysterious as it is powerful. No one really knows where it came from, but it appears that only our Professor can use it to its full potential. She and Lady Rhea are hesitant to let anyone else handle it."

_If something as simple as a sword can be that dangerous,_ Monica thought, _then can_ anyone _really be trusted with it?_

"I also came here to see what Flayn is up to. Have you seen her?"

"I believe she and Ingrid are taking care of the pegasi," said Ferdinand, pointing a few doors down toward a white-maned pegasus.

"Thanks, Ferdinand! Um...would you care to join me in the arena tomorrow morning to spar?"

"I will do my best to meet you there. If I am not at the arena in a timely manner, I apologize ahead of time."

Monica went over to see Ingrid and Flayn, hoping Ferdinand would show up at the arena before their mission. It was difficult for her to practice effectively against a target unable to attack or effectively defend itself.

"Hi, Monica," said Ingrid. "I didn't expect to see you here. I was just introducing Flayn to my new pegasus."

"Does this mean you got your certification? Congratulations!" Monica cheered. "How'd it go?"

"It was exhausting. I'm glad I didn't have to fly through hoops to pass my test, though."

Monica reached out a hand to pet Ingrid's new steed, but wasn't sure where to do so without triggering a hostile reaction.

"Don't worry. Daphne's harmless. Go ahead and pet her."

Ingrid demonstrated by rubbing the space between Daphne's eyes, which seemed to have a calming effect on the young pegasus. Flayn and Monica followed suit to get Daphne to recognize them.

"So does this mean that if one of us is in danger, you'll be able to swoop in and save the day, like a knight in shining armor?"

"I think we're a long way off from that," said Ingrid with a smile and a chuckle.

Monica turned her attention to Flayn, who was about to walk back toward the cathedral. "Flayn!" she called out.

Flayn spun around, kicking a few pebbles in Monica's direction. "Yes, Monica?"

"Do you remember that self-healing spell I asked about yesterday? I put a note in the confession box asking about it, and someone wrote this back to me."

Flayn took the note from Monica and read it aloud, standing just out of earshot of Ferdinand and Ingrid. "'For one to be sustained, another must be drained'? I must admit that it does not leave much to go on..._but_ I do know the answer to this riddle, and I shall tell you _if_ you can figure out what it means."

Monica pretended to think about it for a second, even though she thought she already knew the answer. "It sounds like a spell that can drain energy from other living beings."

"That is correct!" said Flayn. "The spell in question is called 'Nosferatu'."

"Nos...furra...what?"

"'Nos-fer-a-tu'. Unfortunately, I cannot demonstrate its effects to you at the moment, for the use of harmful magic is forbidden on monastery grounds. I also do not want to accidentally injure you while casting the spell."

"I guess this means I'll have to go back to the library and figure out how this works, and then hope that I won't have to use it often."

Monica followed Flayn to the cathedral and once again found herself hitting the books. When she asked one of the bookkeepers about the "Nosferatu" tome, she was surprised to find it in the "white magic" section, believing that a spell capable of siphoning life belonged with the black magic or even _dark_ magic tomes. Even the bookkeeper, who fancied himself an expert on magic studies, found it difficult to explain.

Unlike with the "Heal" spell, which required the caster to channel energy through a welcoming, open palm, "Nosferatu" required the caster to adopt a more aggressive posture, forming their hand like a beast's fangs and pulling backward to simulate a biting motion. Monica thought it would be disgusting, but not entirely surprising, if the spell actually tore off chunks of flesh from its victims.

Monica expected to field-test her new spell soon. As long as she was on guard, she vowed, the safety of the town's citizens was assured. With monsters on the loose and her Priest certification on the line, it was the perfect opportunity to show Byleth, Edelgard, and the other Black Eagles what she could do.


	12. Monsters in the Mach

Monica woke up the next morning feeling rattled. She didn't know if it was the fish she ate for lunch, or if she was worried that the Death Knight would come back, but she knew that this was _not_ the sort of thing she wanted to experience before going out on another mission.

Looking at the Catherine figurine on her desk calmed her down a bit. It reminded her of the kind of person she hoped to be when she graduated from the academy - poised, fearless, and wielding a cool-looking sword. She knew she would eventually have to retire her academy uniform, but she hated the idea of letting the large red ribbon on her chest go to waste. Sadly, it was too big for her to repurpose as a scarf.

Shortly after Monica emerged from her room, she saw students scrambling to get inside as a slow din of low-pitched chimes sounded from the bell tower, once again causing her spine to shake.

Something big was going down. It looked like her practice duel with Ferdinand was going to have to wait.

"Monsters have been spotted within the town limits!" one of the knights yelled as she and a few others banged on every door on the first floor. "All able-bodied academy students, report to the south gate immediately! We repeat: all able-bodied students, report to the south gate _immediately!_"

Monica scrambled back into her room to fetch her sword, and then met Bernadetta, Dorothea, and Petra outside the greenhouse. All three girls had their weapons ready, but the sudden alarm bells left them little time to adjust the buttons on their uniforms.

"Has anyone seen the Professor?" asked Bernadetta, struggling to stand still as the alarm continued to ring.

Dorothea looked around in all directions, but saw no sign of Byleth. "I don't know! Maybe she went on ahead and is waiting for _us_ to meet _her_ down there."

"Then we must be moving with swiftness!" said Petra.

They all ran to the market square as fast as they could. Edelgard and Hubert, whose rooms were on the second floor, followed behind them while wading through a sea of armed students from the other two houses. Caspar and Linhardt trailed behind them, with Ferdinand joining everyone after entering through the south gate on his horse.

"Didn't the Professor tell us that we'd be going out later this afternoon?" Monica asked everyone.

"Monsters have little respect for our concept of schedules or deadlines," said Linhardt. "The sooner we drive these beasts out of town, the sooner I can get back to my morning nap."

Just as Linhardt looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up, Caspar gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. "Speak for yourself, buddy!" he said. "I'm raring to go!"

"Hold on, Caspar," said Edelgard. "We can't go running off to fight these things on our own. We don't want to get caught up in ambushes."

"Well, we can't just sit here and wait while they attack innocent civilians, either. Come on!"

As the knights guided more people into the sanctuary, Byleth sprinted toward her students, dodging and spinning around as many people as she could while trying not to knock them down. "Sorry I'm late," she said. "I was in a meeting with Professors Hanneman and Manuela when the alarm bells sounded. Is everyone here?"

Edelgard did a quick head-count and nodded to her teacher. "Everyone is present and accounted for, Professor," she said.

"Good. We'll split into two groups so we can cover more ground. Edelgard, I want you to take Hubert, Linhardt, Dorothea, and Petra with you to patrol the west side. Take out any beasts you find along the way, and if you see anyone from the town or academy getting attacked, help them if you are able. If you see any _big_ beasts, send someone to look for me and we'll try to fight it together."

"Understood."

"The rest of you will come with me to defend the east side. Ferdinand, since you're the only one among us with a mount, I want you to be our messenger to Edelgard in case something big happens on our side."

"You can count on me, Professor," said Ferdinand.

Byleth and the Black Eagles did one last equipment check to make sure their weapons were in good condition and they had enough vulneraries to heal themselves in case Monica or Linhardt got incapacitated. Monica had little experience fighting inhuman opponents, so she made a last-minute stop at the armory to buy a steel shield to protect herself from getting mauled, as well as to set herself apart from Petra, who didn't carry one.

"All right, everyone...it's time to move out!" said Byleth, pointing her Sword of the Creator toward the monastery gates. "Stay focused, stay vigilant, and we _will_ defeat these beasts together!"

Everyone cheered and pumped their fists in a group salute before breaking off to meet with their assigned leaders. With a deep breath and her hand close to her sword, Monica ran with Caspar, Bernadetta, Ferdinand, and Byleth toward their designated patrol area, leaving her anxiety behind on the floor of the market square.

* * *

Most of the houses on the west side of town had emptied as a pack of about a half-dozen wolves rushed onto the streets. Three of them approached Edelgard's group while the others searched for alternate routes to find their prey. A few citizens had ignored the order to flee, locking themselves inside their houses until the beasts were dealt with.

"Those wolves are headed deeper into town!" said Dorothea, pointing at two more wolves disappearing onto a side street to follow the others. "Shouldn't we go after them, Edie?"

"Not right now, Dorothea," said Edelgard. "Let's deal with these ones first. If we spread ourselves too thin, we won't have enough strength to handle them all. There may be even more on the way, and I'm certain we're not the only ones fighting them."

Edelgard and her group had their street blocked off, leaving little room for the wolves to advance. She banged on her shield to draw their attention, but only two of them took the bait. One snarled at Edelgard and charged at her, only to be knocked aside by her large shield while the other one tried to dash past her and attack the friends she was protecting. Petra ran over and slashed the second wolf across the face, giving Edelgard a chance to follow up as it yelped in pain. The third wolf slipped around the other two and charged straight at Linhardt, who blasted a gust of wind at it to try to slow it down. The wolf flew backward several feet into the wall of one of the houses, but shook off its injuries and charged at the group again. This time, Hubert stepped in to intercept the wolf by holding it in place with a wave of crushing dark energy that emitted a loud, dissonant screech.

The other two wolves winced at the sound and tried to get away from it as quickly as possible. The first one took a swipe at Dorothea with its claws, staggering her. She tried to figure out the best way to deal with it without hurting herself or any of her friends. It was too close for her to safely throw a fireball or thunderbolt, so she tried to strike it with her sword first to weaken it, then use magic on it once she had put some distance between them.

The second wolf, still bleeding from its slash wounds, ran at Petra to take revenge on her for attacking it. Petra dodged to her right once, and then tried to lure it toward her again so she and Edelgard could finish it off with a combined attack.

"Good work, everyone!" said the princess. "Keep your guards up. More of them are coming."

A noise that sounded like a cross between a wolf's howl and a ghost's moan summoned another half-dozen wolves not far from their position. One of the wolves was at least twice the size of the others. Patches of its ash-gray fur were missing, exposing the flesh underneath to the light of day. Dorothea noticed a pair of crystals lodged in the sides of its forehead, giving its eyes and jawline an unsettling, monstrous appearance.

"A demonic beast? All the way out here?" she said in a mixture of surprise and horror. "I'll go get the Professor and the others!"

"Hold on, Dorothea!" said Linhardt. "Let me heal you up before you go."

With a wave of his hand, Linhardt mended the wound stretching across Dorothea's left shoulder. The tattered uniform piece was a small price to pay for being able to stand up without slumping over. She made a note to herself to ask Bernadetta to try to fix it up once the wolves had been routed. "Thanks, Lin," she said, sighing. "I'll be back as fast I can."

"Please use caution, Dorothea," said Petra. "We will be needing everyone's strength to fight these beasts."

* * *

While Edelgard's group tried to hold off the giant wolf beast, Byleth's party was engaged with another pack of wolves on the east side of town. Caspar split one wolf's head open with his axe, while Bernadetta found it difficult to get an accurate shot on another one approaching her on such a narrow road. The wolf noticed the bow pointed in its direction and tried to slip to Bernadetta's left. The first arrow missed, but she had enough time to draw a second arrow and hit it just above its upper jaw, robbing it of the ability to use its fangs on her.

A few houses ahead of them, Monica and Ferdinand tried to fend off a trio of wolves who had cornered them on a side street. Ferdinand found it difficult to hit any of them with his lance because they were positioned lower to the ground, so he dismounted and impaled one between the eyes. The other two advanced toward them and attempted to pounce. Monica raised her shield to try to keep them away from Ferdinand, only for one of them to lunge at her from her right side and try to bite her arm. She saw the attack coming and spun clockwise, pulling her arm out of the way and bringing the hilt of her sword down on its back to knock it down, leaving an opening for her to finish it off with a downward slash.

"Monica! Watch out!"

Monica had no time to celebrate her little victory over the wolf she just defeated when the third wolf attacked her from behind. She immediately regretted not killing that wolf at her first opportunity when it lunged forward, raking her in the back with her claws. Fuming with anger, Monica tried to suppress a pained scream so as not to draw any other monsters to them and prevent them from escaping.

"Allow me to protect you this time!" Ferdinand declared as he rushed forward to stab the remaining wolf to stop it from attacking Monica again.

"Thanks, Ferdinand," said Monica, trying not to wince. "Hold that one still for me."

While the injured wolf struggled to free itself from Ferdinand's lance, Monica sheathed her sword and held her right hand out to make the "Nosferatu" spell pose. As she pulled her hand back, a trail of blood erupted from the wolf's stab wound and formed into a wobbly, sticky ball. She was so grossed out that she wanted to drop it as quickly as possible, but after she opened her hand, the ball of blood suddenly exploded into tiny particles of light, briefly enveloping her with a thin white aura. Ferdinand blinked a couple of times as he watched the wolf's body fall limp.

Monica felt her body stiffen as the essence she extracted from her prey healed the scrape wound on her back. She couldn't see the Nosferatu spell working like she could with her normal healing spells, but the wound didn't hurt as much as it did before.

Just then, they heard the unnatural howl of the demonic wolf beast and decided to scramble back to the professor. By the time they rejoined their group, Dorothea was already with them, helping them fend off a few more wolves that had just recently joined.

"How many of these things are there?!" cried Bernadetta as she shot a large bird flying at her.

"Who knows? Just keep hacking away at them and eventually they'll have to stop coming," said Caspar.

Byleth sliced the last remaining wolf with her sword, but she saw two more attack birds clawing and scratching at Caspar, who couldn't effectively ward them off with his axe alone.

"Caspar! Watch your head!"

With a flick of her wrist, the Sword of the Creator split into multiple segments bound together by a sturdy, yet hard-to-see, chain. Caspar swatted at the birds to push them within range of Byleth's whip-sword, with each lash reducing her avian adversaries to a mess of meat and feathers in short order.

"Whoa! Nice shot, Professor!" said Caspar, patting his head to make sure none of his hair had been shaved off. Monica, who had been standing behind Byleth as she unleashed her signature weapon's hidden form, stood in awe. She had never seen a weapon capable of transforming at will.

"We have to hurry!" said Dorothea. "Edie, Hubie, Petra, and Lin are fighting a demonic beast over on the west side!"

"Thank you, Dorothea," said Byleth. "We'll get right on it. Everyone, come with me!"

They all raced toward the western part of town where the demonic beast unleashed its fury on Edelgard and some of the surrounding buildings. She was holding up well enough, but her shield was dented and a large chunk of stone from a nearby building laid at her feet.

"I hate to admit this," said Edelgard with a heavy sigh, "but this is harder than I anticipated, Professor. We need to find a way to get this beast away from the town before it does any more damage."

Byleth looked around for an opening. The grassy fields to the southwest looked like they would provide enough room for them all to fight it and protect the town at the same time. "I have an idea," she said, "but first I'll need some help. Ferdinand, Caspar, Bernadetta, Monica...stick with me, and we'll-"

"Perhaps I can also be of assistance?"

Everyone was surprised to see Constance standing among the crowd. Monica recognized the blonde mage right away, but she had lost much of the cheerfulness she displayed during their first meeting. Monica admitted it was difficult for _anyone_ to stay in a good mood when monsters were running amok.

"Connie?! What are you doing out here?" asked Monica. "Everyone else went behind the walls already! It's not safe!"

Constance's response was immediate, but sullen. "If I were to run away in the face of a pending catastrophe, I would be doing a disservice to the people of this town...and most of all, to myself."

The demonic beast swung its right claw at the group, not caring for them to wait to formulate a strategy. Byleth raised her sword with her right hand to prepare a retaliatory strike. "If you'd like to help," she said, pointing downfield with her free hand, "then follow Monica and the others outside. I'll draw this beast's attention."

Ferdinand led Byleth's half of the group outside to get out of range of the beast's claws. They all had trouble keeping up with him on his horse, so he slowed down just enough to keep them together. They all turned around to watch Byleth swing the Sword of the Creator at the beast, raking it across the face and dangerously close to its right eye, inducing another pained, ghostly howl. On the surface, the attack appeared to deal very little damage, but the giant wolf now had its full attention on Byleth, turning its back away from Edelgard's group as it followed the professor out into the open.

"That should do it."

As Byleth sprinted through town to lure the demonic beast, Edelgard's group waited for it to get a few steps ahead of them before giving chase so it wouldn't turn around to attack them. Edelgard's armor and shield hindered her mobility, so she had to trust that the professor knew what she was doing.

Once they had the demonic beast where they wanted it, Byleth ordered Edelgard to make the first move.

"Hubert! Dorothea!" shouted Edelgard. "Use your magic on that beast while its back is turned!"

"Of course, Lady Edelgard," said Hubert.

"You don't have to tell me twice, Edie," said Dorothea.

Both mages pelted the beast with bolts of dark energy and lightning, causing it to swivel around and take its focus off Byleth's team. In doing so, it whipped its tail around in a wide arc, knocking down everyone on Byleth's side.

"This beast is more formidable than I expected," said Monica. "Is everyone okay?"

"A little bruised, but I believe I can manage," said Ferdinand, who was slow to get back on his horse.

"I'm still in one piece," said Caspar.

"Nothing I can't handle," said Bernadetta, "but I really hope that thing doesn't hit me with its tail again!"

"What's our next move, Professor?" asked Monica.

Byleth pointed at the beast and nodded. "We need to figure out where and what its weakness is. Bernadetta, you go first."

Bernadetta had no trouble unloading her arrows into the demonic beast's side and back because they were such large targets. The arrows didn't seem to do much to draw its attention, but it still worked in Monica's favor because it allowed her some time to try to heal everyone up after taking a hard tail-whip hit. There wasn't a big enough wound for her to drain from with Nosferatu, so she had to drink some of her vulnerary to heal her own injuries.

"Caspar! Ferdinand!" shouted Byleth. "Try attacking its legs!"

Ferdinand and Caspar slowly closed in on the beast, taking care not to get stepped on by its hind legs. As with Bernadetta's arrows, Ferdinand's lance only had a minor effect on the beast's health. Caspar's attack seemed to do more damage, and it was at that moment Byleth realized that cutting and slicing attacks were more effective than piercing weapons.

The giant wolf whipped around again, slamming its tail into Edelgard's group. While it had its back turned to them, Edelgard ordered Linhardt and Petra to use all of their power to cut off the tail to disable its most dangerous attacks. Linhardt was aware that his normal-strength wind magic would barely make the beast budge given its size, so he focused more of his energy into a blade of wind that caused a large gash in the base of its tail. He quickly tried to clean off his uniform when some of the blood splattered onto it, and wasn't about to look up when Petra rushed in to cut the tail off from the other end with a leaping sword strike.

Least pleased by all of this was the beast itself, who filled the air with an earth-shaking howl that caused everyone on both sides to stumble. It was getting more agitated by the second.

"Connie? Is there anything in that magic book of yours that deals with out-of-control wolves?" asked Monica.

"I am doubtful that anything I try will work," Constance mumbled, "but a steady supply of ice should cool it off. Please stand out of the way... I would not want any of you to be harmed for my sake."

As Monica tried to shield Constance from the beast's claw swipe and Byleth attacked it from the other side with her sword, Constance closed her eyes and drew a complex symbol in the air with both of her hands. The surrounding air temperature sharply dropped, and dozens of shards of ice of various sizes and shapes formed in front of her, launching toward the demonic beast at high speed with a push. One by one, the ice shards embedded themselves in the beast's skull, causing it to flail about again as it tried to remove the objects from around its eyes.

Monica saw an opportunity to strike while the beast was weakened. She took a cue from the professor to run on its blindside and slice its neck open, and its growls and howls soon gave way to gasps for air as it bled out before them. Monica stepped back and waited for it to dissolve, transform, or explode, but nothing happened.

It simply...sat there, its lifeless eyes staring at everyone.

Byleth and Edelgard searched and listened for any more enemies to come their way. The coast appeared to be clear for the time being.

"Ugh...what in the world was that?" asked Monica. "I've never seen a wolf that big before!"

"It appears to be - or, at least _was_ at some point - an ordinary wolf who grew in size due to exposure to a Crest Stone," Hubert tried to explain. "One has to wonder how it came into contact with one, and why it specifically chose to attack this town."

"In any case, it sounds like the fighting in town has subsided, as well," said Edelgard. "Let's hope that there aren't too many casualties."

"Good work, everyone," said Byleth. "Let's head back. Maybe we can find someone to help clean up this mess before more wild beasts start picking at it and we have to do this all over again."

* * *

As the group returned to the safety of the town's walls, they took a moment to assess the damage to the town. There was some minor structural damage to the houses caused by the larger beasts, and a few of the citizens who had ignored the evacuation order or were too far away to make it to safety had been killed by the smaller ones. Even though most of her companions were okay, Monica was saddened by the scene before her. She hoped that those who lost family members in the attack would be able to mourn peacefully and get back to their lives as quickly as possible.

Constance walked along with the group, keeping a short distance away from everyone to avoid looking like she was enrolled in the academy.

"Are you okay, Connie?" Monica wondered.

"Please...just take me inside," said Constance.

"You're not sick, are you?"

"Not for the moment, but I would not want to slow you down by staying outside too long."

Constance's wish was granted as the group entered the common room, which was even more crowded than usual thanks to the evacuees from town. Despite the sea of unfamiliar faces, the smile and confidence that she displayed in her first meeting and correspondence with Monica returned almost instantly. Monica and Edelgard were both baffled by Constance's sudden mood shift.

"Ah! Much better!" said the blonde mage. "I must say, that was quite the scare you all had out there."

"It _was_ somewhat scary," said Byleth, "but my students and I have dealt with beasts like that before."

"Students? You mean you're a teacher at this academy? I don't recall seeing you when I went to school here."

"Oh… Um, that's because I was hired just over six months ago. I'm actually more of a mercenary by trade."

"I see. It's a shame that you had not arrived a few years earlier. I feel like I may have benefited from your instruction and leadership."

"I had a feeling that you might have gone to this academy before," said Edelgard. "Your dress is similar to the uniform Monica and I are wearing. I'm Edelgard, her house leader."

"And my name is Byleth," said the professor. "Thank you for your assistance today."

"Yes… As I stated before, I would be remiss in my duties if I were to run away while innocent people were in danger." Constance hastily fixed her hair and dusted herself off before curtsying toward Byleth and Edelgard. "My name is Constance von Nuvelle. Before attending the Officers Academy, I received top honors at the Fhirdiad School of Sorcery. I consider it my proudest achievement thus far, but I assure you that it will be far from my last!"

"Are you sure you're not feeling ill, Constance? You seemed a little...out of sorts when we were fighting outside," said Edelgard.

Constance hesitated for a second, then said, "I'd rather not talk about that in front of so many people."

"Very well. The professor and I are going to head back to the classroom with the others. The archbishop will want a report at some point, as well."

"Uh...I'll be with you guys in a few minutes, okay?" said Monica.

"Don't take too long," said Byleth. "And Constance...please take care of yourself on your way back."

While her professor and her classmates returned to the Black Eagles classroom, Monica looked for a quiet corner where she could talk to Constance. The crowd began to thin out as the citizens were given the "all-clear" to return to their homes.

"Am I ever glad to see you, Connie!" said Monica. "Admittedly, I was dreaming that our next meeting would be a few steps above chasing off a pack of wild wolves and slitting the throat of one that's twice my size."

"I believe that you and I are of the same mind on this one, Monica," said Constance. "Still, you performed admirably out there. Your professor and Edelgard also seemed pleased."

Monica couldn't help smiling. Knowing that Byleth, Edelgard, and now Constance had faith in her fighting ability made her feel like her training had a positive impact. "I know this is a weird question to ask after everything that just happened," she said, "but...are you still open for a date this coming week once everything calms down?"

"Of course," said Constance, adding a cheerful chuckle. "It _was_ my idea in the first place, after all. You can find me on the south side of town, in the house with the grey roof that's surrounded by trees."

"That sounds like it would be pretty hard to find. Will you be fine going back on your own? Would it be okay if I walked home with you?"

"Don't you think you should return to your professor soon, Monica? I understand that you wish to look out for my safety, and I appreciate that, I really do, but..."

"Can I at least walk with you to the market gate?"

Constance smiled back as she grasped Monica's outstretched hand. "Very well. Let us be off, then!"

They stepped outside through the front door and were greeted by the blinding rays of the sun shining almost directly over them. While Monica eventually lowered her free arm once she got used to it, Constance kept her eyes shielded until they reached the archway of the front gate, when she felt it was safe to relax.

"So, does Tuesday evening work for you?" asked Constance.

"I think so," said Monica. "I'm taking a certification exam earlier in the week and then going on a big trip later in the week, so Tuesday should work out."

"Good. I shall await your arrival at this very gate after dinner. Have a pleasant day, Monica!"

Constance ended the exchange by clasping her hands against Monica's. Monica was surprised by how delicate Constance's hands were, and how they weren't ice-cold after the spell she used to attack the demonic wolf beast. It was a pleasant sensation that Monica wished she could feel more often.

"See you soon, Connie!" she said as their hands separated and Constance turned to walk back toward her house, once again holding her hands up to block the sunlight.

Between getting back to school, learning how to use healing magic, saving a town from monsters, and now scoring a date with a beautiful, if somewhat eccentric, mage, things were starting to look up. Monica couldn't wait to write to her father to tell her about everything that had happened.


	13. Sisterhood

The night after the Black Eagles' victory over the demonic wolf beast, Monica tried to dream about a world where Constance was one of her classmates. It started off normally enough at first, but things started getting weird when anything either of them said kept getting interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on a door, even when the classroom door was wide open and they could see the bushes across the field.

"Monica? Are you in there? _Monica!_ Wake up!"

Monica was suddenly jolted out of her dream by Ingrid's shouting. "Give me a few minutes, okay?"

"You missed the breakfast bell!" said Ingrid. "Hurry up before all of the good food is taken!"

"Okay, okay! I'm coming."

It took more than just a few minutes for Monica to change into her school uniform, but she had just enough time to open her bedroom door before Ingrid took more drastic measures to open it herself. "Sorry, Ingrid… I guess I crashed out longer than usual after dealing with yesterday's monster invasion," she said as she and Ingrid walked toward the breakfast line.

"I can't really blame you for that one. We _did_ have to do a lot of running around. Well...flying, in my case, but you get the idea."

"At least now I can prepare for my Priest certification exam before the big battle this week."

"Oh? When are you planning on taking it?"

"As soon as I possibly can. I can't wait to get this over with."

Ingrid sighed. "That doesn't sound like you've got a lot of time. I hope you're up to the challenge, Monica. Good luck!"

When it was Monica's turn to eat, she was given a plate of scrambled eggs and toast, which felt more familiar to her than the oatmeal she had been eating before. She didn't see anyone from any of the classes eating breakfast, so she sat at a table by herself until Byleth showed up.

"Professor? Are you still hungry?" asked Monica.

"I already finished eating an hour ago," said Byleth. "I know it's a Sunday, so there's not much pressure for everyone to keep a schedule, but I started to worry when you didn't come out right away when the first bell rang. I'll let it slide this time, but I can't ask the cooks to hold your food for you if you don't make it. Is that clear?"

Monica took a bite from her eggs, trying hard not to sink her head into them. "Yes, Professor."

Satisfied that her warning got through to Monica, Byleth got up to leave the dining hall only to stop at the last minute to give another order. "Two more things before I go. First...thank you for catching up on your homework. You got most of the answers right, too. Well done!"

Monica was delighted that she scored so well given how little time she had to study after returning from the mountains.

"Second," Byleth added, "I've selected you and Dorothea to take part in choir practice today."

"This isn't part of my Priest training, is it?" asked Monica, eating her eggs in one big gulp.

"Not exactly, but I think it might be a good idea for you to get a bit more involved with church activities since you're headed down that path anyway."

Sensing that it was almost time for her to go, Monica ate the rest of her eggs as quickly as she could, leaving the plate behind for the cleaning staff. She wanted to take care of it herself, but she didn't want to keep Dorothea or the choir director waiting.

* * *

Monica entered the first floor of the cathedral and looked for Dorothea by the rear pews on the opposite side of the confession booth. She spotted the songstress talking with two other girls - a tall young woman with a blonde ponytail that rested comfortably over her left shoulder, and a shorter girl with fiery orange hair that curled into loops around her neckline.

"Oh! Here she comes now!" said the taller one. "Is this your new friend, Dorothea?"

"Uh...yes! Mercedes, this is Monica," said Dorothea. "She joined our class about a month ago. Monica, I'd like you to meet Mercedes and her friend Annette. They're both from the Blue Lions, and we meet every couple Sundays to practice our singing."

"Nice to meet you both," said Monica. "Do you guys like to sing?"

"Of course! We have lots of fun," said Mercedes. "Annie's a great singer, too."

"It'll probably be a long time before Mercie and I can reach Dorothea's level," said Annette, "but singing is so much fun when you do it with others who enjoy it. Are you planning on joining us today, Monica?"

"Yeah," said Monica, "but don't expect much. I don't really like the way I sound when I sing."

"No need to worry," said Mercedes in a fluttery tone, trying her best to put Monica at ease. "That's what these practice sessions are for."

"Are we the only ones coming? Isn't anyone from the Golden Deer also a part of this?"

"I think so," said Annette, "but I wonder what's taking them so long…"

About a minute after Monica and the other girls stood in a row, they were joined by a boy in glasses and a girl with light blue hair, both of whom appeared to be out of breath.

"No matter how many times I do it," said the boy, "the trip from the classroom to the cathedral never fails to wear me out."

"It is quite a long trip," said his companion. "Right now, I wish I was at the stables again. It's much closer. I hope there's someone available to feed the horses today…"

Annette turned toward the two arriving students and greeted them with a smile and a wave. "Hi, Marianne! Hi, Ignatz!"

"H-hello," said Marianne, closing her eyes and turning away from everyone but Ignatz.

"Good morning, Annette," said Ignatz. "Hello, everyone. We're not too late, are we?"

"I don't think so," said Dorothea. "We were just waiting for you guys to show up, so I guess this means we can get started now."

The choir director handed each of the singers a hymn book and instructed them to turn to two different hymns, one toward the front of the book and one toward the back. Everyone was given a few minutes to familiarize themselves with the notation of each song to study how they were supposed to be sung. The lyrics sounded considerably less melodic to Monica the first time they came out of her mouth, and the session had to be paused a couple of times to help her get on-key with everyone else. "See what I mean?" she said, nearly hiding her face in her hymnal.

Dorothea gently rested a hand on Monica's left shoulder. "It's okay, Monica. Just relax. Remember, we're not performing for anybody but ourselves right now. Just focus on the melody at first. Once you get that down, the lyrics will come naturally."

"Are you sure? Okay...I'll try."

Monica sang quietly and listened closely to the others, hoping it would make it easier to find the right pitch and raise her voice once she was comfortable. After a few tries, she managed to get her singing up to "just good enough", with Dorothea and Annette carrying most of the weight for everyone. The same was true when it came time to sing the same hymns before an audience of about three dozen worshippers, not counting Flayn and Seteth, who led the worship service between songs. Monica felt more comfortable during these lulls in the action as she didn't need to do or say anything except recite a pair of prayers from the Book of Seiros, which didn't require her to memorize anything.

When the service ended, the choir group gathered around the bridge outside the cathedral to relax and get some fresh air. Mercedes stood in the center of her circle of friends, smiling and clasping her hands together as if to start another prayer. "Good work, everyone!" she said. "I think the goddess would be pleased with our performance."

"Do you really think she's down here listening to us?" asked Ignatz, sounding very excited by the prospect.

"It's hard to know for sure. Some say that the goddess walks among us, while others say that she's resting high above the clouds, watching over all of Fódlan, not just us."

Monica wondered if anyone had actually seen the goddess, or could tell what she looked like. The idea of being in the presence of someone powerful enough to create and destroy worlds excited and frightened her. She wanted to do her best to stay on the good side of such a person as much as possible.

"Me? I never really gave it much thought," said Dorothea. "I'm just happy to get out there and perform, even for something like this."

"That's the spirit!" said Annette. "What are you guys going to do later on? Mercie and I are planning to go food shopping."

"I think I'll stay here a little while longer," said Marianne.

"Uh...me, too," said Monica.

Marianne looked up, stunned. "Oh! Are you staying to pray some more?"

"Not exactly. I was planning on meeting with my professor after this. I need to ask her a question or two."

"I see. Um...I think I should go now. Excuse me."

Marianne bowed to everyone and walked back into the cathedral.

"Is she going to be okay?" asked Monica.

"Marianne's pretty shy around others," said Ignatz, "but she's a nice person when she gives you the chance to get to know her. For now, though, I think we should give her some space."

"Okay, then. I might be a while, so I'll catch up with you guys later."

"It was nice meeting you, Monica," said Annette. "We should get together and do this again sometime."

"I'll think about it."

As her fellow singers left the cathedral area to find other ways to spend their free time, Monica headed upstairs to the captain's quarters. Byleth was out of the office, but Jeralt was sitting at the desk, writing in a leather-bound book with an unmarked cover.

"Excuse me, Captain Jeralt?" Monica called.

Jeralt put down his pen and stashed his book away in the desk in a compartment only he could see. "Oh… hey, there. Need something?" he asked.

"Yeah. Do you know where Miss Eisner is?"

"She got called into Lady Rhea's chamber."

"Was it to talk about yesterday's monster attack?"

"No...we already had a meeting about that," said Jeralt. "She sent a couple of knights to investigate those monsters' origins, and several more to help clean the streets up. We're not expecting any more creatures of that size to attack the town again, but - and I'd suggest this even without taking into account what happened recently - if you do plan on going into town, be vigilant, but try to keep your hands away from your weapon when any of the Knights are around."

Monica nodded. She understood the folly of challenging the Knights of Seiros just as much as, if not more than, how bad an idea it was to wave around a weapon in the presence of an arms dealer. With someone as fierce-looking as Catherine leading them, she would be in serious trouble if they had even one soldier with a fraction of her or Jeralt's strength.

Without knowing how long Byleth would be speaking with Rhea, Monica decided to change the subject. "Did you ever attend the Officers Academy, Captain?" she asked.

"No," said Jeralt. "In fact, it's been so long since I went to school that I don't know if it's still around anymore."

"Then how did you learn how to fight so well?"

"Practical application, mostly. Once you're out of the classroom and have several battles under your belt, you'll start to develop your own fighting style."

"Was Miss Eisner the same way?"

"You bet. When you're on the road as much as Byleth and I used to be before coming back to Garreg Mach, you have to quickly adapt and evolve your tactics if you want to survive. She learned a lot of her fighting techniques by watching me, but the way she swings her sword is different from how I used to do it."

Byleth entered the office a few moments later, carrying the Sword of the Creator on her hip. The blade was too irregular to fit inside a normal sheath, so she had to get an extra-large sheath in which to hide it and prevent the "blades" from poking her when she walked.

"I'm all done, Father," she said.

"Oh? What did Lady Rhea want to talk to you about?" asked Jeralt.

Byleth looked at Monica for a second, then back at her father and added, "I'll tell you about it later. She said she wants to speak with you now."

Jeralt got up from the desk chair and let out an annoyed sigh. "I wish she'd just tell both of us what's going on instead of asking us to meet separately like this. Any news that's important enough for my daughter is important enough for me."

Byleth looked on and worried as her father left the office. She didn't like getting separate briefings from Rhea any more than Jeralt did. Whatever the case was, there was little she could do to change the way Rhea did things until she spent more time on the job and gained more influence.

With Jeralt on his way to meet the archbishop, Byleth could now give her full attention to the student sitting at the chair in front of her desk. "May I help you?"

"Yes, Professor," said Monica. "I think I'm ready to take the certification exam, but I have a couple of questions."

"All right...go ahead."

Monica watched as Byleth pulled a folder out from the bookshelf and sat it on her desk. "Am I going to have to do any more fighting for this?"

"There was going to be a combat portion of this exam," said Byleth, "but yesterday's surprise demonic beast attack will be a more-than-adequate substitute. That leaves only a paper test to see how well you know how to use your new class."

"That sounds easy enough," said Monica, relieved that the worst part of her test was over. "If I pass this test, does this mean I'll eventually have to join the Church of Seiros?"

"You don't have to if you don't want to. I'm told that not everyone winds up taking on a profession related to their class when they leave the Officers Academy. Take me, for instance. I was a mercenary - small 'm' - before I came to Garreg Mach, and my class is Mercenary - capital 'M' - now. I haven't decided whether or not I'll go back to that life once this year is over, though."

"Do you like your job so far, Professor?"

"It hasn't exactly been what I envisioned it to be, but it has its perks."

Byleth offered a half-smile to her curious pupil. It was quite a different sight from the thousand-yard stare she gave Monica when they first met a few weeks ago. Monica was tempted to ask her professor for more details about the "perks" of teaching at the Officers Academy, but she worried it would drive her off-topic.

"Anything else?" asked Byleth.

"Yeah...can I take the test tomorrow morning?" asked Monica.

"Why not do it right now? You're not thinking of using this exam as an excuse to skip my lecture, are you, Monica?"

Monica shook her head furiously when hit with Byleth's accusation. "No! Of course not! I just thought I'd need a little more time to study, that's all."

"The exam really isn't that hard, assuming you've been studying _and_ practicing the material. I'll close the door so that no one can disturb you while you're taking your written test. It shouldn't take very long."

The professor pulled a pair of sheets of paper out of her folder, passing them to Monica along with Jeralt's pen. "You may begin when you're ready."

True to her word, Byleth got up from her desk and locked the door to her office while Monica examined the quiz in front of her. There were twenty questions in all, evenly split between questions about proper healing techniques and the history of the Church of Seiros and those in charge of it.

One by one, Monica dug into the back of her mind to retrieve the bits of information she thought were relevant to the test at hand. There were a few gaps in that knowledge, to be sure, but she was willing to write down an answer anyway hoping it would turn out to be correct after all. _A wrong answer is better than leaving it blank,_ she thought.

After half an hour had passed, Monica handed her finished papers over to Byleth, who slipped them into the front drawer of her desk without looking at them.

"Aren't you going to grade my quiz, Professor?" asked Monica.

"I will...later," said Byleth. "I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise. Why not go and relax for a bit? I'm sure you have to be tired after all you've been through this month."

"Yeah...you're probably right. It would be nice to have a little bit more downtime. See you later, Professor!"

With the last part of the certification exam completed, Byleth let Monica out of her office to walk back to her dorm. On her way out, Monica thought she heard the professor talking to herself, as if she was answering a question from someone only she could see.

* * *

The next morning, there was no talk of battle strategies or mission objectives. Instead, Byleth attempted to hold a discussion about the lands beyond the borders of Fódlan, and the ways Fódlan and these "outsider countries" influenced each other, no matter how subtle. Aside from Petra's homeland of Brigid, it was clear that none of them, Byleth included, was likely to see any of those lands in their lifetime. Monica found the whole discussion on foreign cultures exciting, but had trouble hiding her nervousness when her professor started talking about Brigid because it reminded her of the sacrifices her grandfather Emanuel made in defense of their territory during the war. She still wanted to be friends with Petra despite everything that happened between Brigid and House Ochs, for she knew Petra was too young to have participated in the war at the time.

At the end of the lecture, Byleth dismissed everyone but Monica and Linhardt, which immediately set off alarm bells in the young returnee's head.

"Uh...I'm not in trouble or anything, am I, Professor?" she asked. "I was taking notes the whole time. Really!"

"And I may not have been awake the whole time," said Linhardt, "but I assure you that I _was_ listening...at least to the parts that mentioned the mages of Morfis."

"Relax, you two...neither of you are in trouble," said Byleth. "I just want you to come to the cathedral with me."

Monica shrugged, wondering why the professor wanted her to go to the cathedral if not to visit her office.

She soon got her answer when they walked up to the audience chamber and she saw Rhea, Seteth, Mercedes, and Marianne facing the archway.

"Monica von Ochs," the archbishop called, "please step forward. Linhardt, Professor Eisner, I would ask that you also come and join me."

Still confused, Monica looked around the mostly-empty cathedral hall before following Rhea's request. Linhardt walked over to Rhea's right side between Mercedes and Marianne, while Byleth took her place on Rhea's left side next to Seteth, forming a semi-circle around Monica.

"In recognition of your achievements on and off the battlefield this school year and the last," Rhea added, "I hereby present you with this seal acknowledging the successful completion of your certification exam, and your promotion to a Priest at the Garreg Mach Officers Academy."

Byleth opened the folder in her hands and handed Rhea a palm-sized silver medal. When Monica accepted the seal, she felt an overwhelming sense of giddiness and a sensation that a light was shining on her. "Thank you, Lady Rhea," she said, resisting the urge to cheer or jump for joy or do anything that would appear out-of-place in a place of worship. "And thank you, Professor...and Linhardt... I couldn't have passed this exam without your help."

"As we have requested of those in attendance who have passed the Priest certification exam before you - Linhardt von Hevring, Mercedes von Martritz, and Marianne von Edmund - we ask that you continue to conduct yourself in a manner that honors yourself, your peers, your academy, and the goddess."

To complete Monica's new priestly ensemble, Seteth handed her a white robe to wear outside the monastery over her academy uniform, neatly folded and encased in a plastic bag to protect it from dirt and dust. Monica bowed as she basked in the applause of her professor and her peers.

"Congratulations, Monica," said Seteth. "You have much to be proud of."

"This is wonderful!" said Mercedes. "I had no idea you were in training to be a Priest, Monica."

"Thanks, Mercedes," said Monica. "I don't remember being part of a ceremony like this before. Is this new?"

"As far as I know, yes," said Linhardt. "From what I've heard from the other houses, they try to put as many promoted students together as possible if they all passed on the same week. In cases like this one, when there's only one new promotion, they gather two or three students who passed the same exam to stand as witnesses. Failing that, it's up to the house leader to join in."

"That's what happened to me when I received my Priest seal," said Marianne. "I think I got mine before Mercedes, so Professor Hanneman sent Claude over to accompany me. Claude tried to get me to smile when I received my seal, but I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"I feel like smiling right now," said Monica. "Can I smile on your behalf, Marianne?"

"You don't have to do it for me, but I appreciate the gesture."

As Monica chatted with her peers on the way back to the classroom building, she felt a little perkier and a lot lighter on her feet. She no longer needed to worry about playing catch-up with the rest of the Black Eagles. With the completion of her first major trial and the month drawing to a close, she felt ready to take her place alongside them as she looked forward to making it through the rest of the school year.


	14. A Night on the Town

_Author's Note (4/22/2020): So I felt it necessary to change the "Hurt/Comfort" category on this story to "Fantasy", since the hurt/comfort part only really covers the first couple of chapters of the story, and Monica is sort-of well-adjusted now. Some elements of that might creep back into the story later, but I haven't yet figured out _how_ they'll work out._

* * *

The dining hall was more packed than usual for the Tuesday lunch hour. It seemed like everyone from each of the houses was either sitting at a table eating, or waiting in line to eat. There was no special occasion or recipe to speak of; word around campus was that the food was especially good.

Monica needed the extra energy after finishing her promised practice duel with Ferdinand following the end of Byleth's latest lesson. Monica conceded that he had grown a lot better with lances than she was at her peak, but he complimented her on her steady improvement with swords.

Ferdinand was called to Byleth's office before he had a chance to see what all the fuss at the dining hall was about, so Monica wound up going by herself to sneak a slice of pie out to one of the benches. It was too crowded inside and too nice outside for her not to take advantage of it.

As Monica went outside to the garden, she noticed Edelgard and Claude sitting across from each other under the gazebo. Claude was savoring a bite of fried fish he had recently eaten, while Edelgard looked lost in thought as she ate a spoonful of soup.

"Every time I see you, Princess," he said, "it always seems like you're thinking about something. Sometimes I wish I could figure out what goes on in that head of yours."

"I could say the same of you, Claude," Edelgard retorted. "I hope you didn't come to chat with me in a thinly-veiled attempt to get me to reveal my battle strategies."

"It's not like that, really! We don't get many opportunities to chat after classes or missions. Heck, I rarely see you talk to anyone outside of the Black Eagles."

"Forgive me. It's true that I have a lot on my mind, and that hasn't given me much time to socialize with others. As the future emperor, there is much I need to consider. Not just for today, but one, two, five...even ten years ahead. I'm sure you and Dimitri must have the same concerns."

"Okay, you got me. I've been known to do a fair bit of strategizing myself. I'm probably not thinking as far ahead as you are, though."

"'Strategizing', you say? That's an interesting way of putting it."

Claude chuckled as he saw the look on Edelgard's face. "Was that a grin I just saw? So the princess _does_ show emotion every once in a while."

"Forget you saw that," said Edelgard, using the napkin by her plate as a way to wipe the smile from her face, as well as the drop of soup beneath her lips.

Claude peered around the hedge behind him and spotted Monica listening to the two lords' conversation intently. "Looks like we've got company," he said. "It's a shame there are only two chairs here."

"True… One of us would have to give up their meal in order for all of us to hang around this table," said Edelgard.

"That sounds like a problem with an easy solution," said Claude as he hurried to finish off his fish.

With one of the chairs freed up, Monica took her pie plate and sat down in the chair across from Edelgard. "Thanks!" she said to Claude. "You didn't have to do that for me, though… I was just sitting at that bench, enjoying the view...and this pie...and..."

"Waiting to occupy the best seat in the house?"

"Uh...sure. Let's go with that."

"I'd love to stick around, but I'm off to get some more of this delicious fish while there's still some left." He gave both Black Eagles a quick salute and started to walk back into the dining hall with his plate in his hand.

"If you're still hungry," said Monica, "would you like some of my pie? It's _really_ good."

"No thanks," he said, "but I appreciate the offer."

Monica then turned to Edelgard and gave her a playful grin. "Establishing inter-house relations, Edelgard?" she asked.

"It didn't start out that way," said the princess. "I came out here to eat alone and get some fresh air, and then Claude showed up."

"You didn't turn him away, though. It sounded like the conversation was about to get interesting."

"I'm sure he'll want to pick up where we left off after our squad claims victory at Gronder Field." Edelgard quietly sipped the last of her soup and set her spoon down in the bowl without it making any loud clanging noises. "I'll forgive your eavesdropping on me for now, Monica. Since you're here, I want to congratulate you on receiving your official certification. Now it feels like you're truly one of us."

"I know!" said Monica, trembling with excitement.

"Your father would be especially pleased to hear how well you've progressed in the last month. Have you spoken to him lately?"

"Actually, I just got a letter from him yesterday. He said he wanted to come down to visit us by the end of the next moon to deliver a birthday present to me."

"It must be a pretty important present if he's coming all the way to the monastery to deliver it in person...or at least a pretty big one. I just hope that the roads are still safe by then."

Monica held her fist up almost to eye level, pretending that she was holding up her sword to prepare for battle. "No need to worry. Any bandit stupid enough to challenge my father to a fight won't live long enough to regret their mistake."

In all the excitement about getting promoted and digging into a slice of her favorite mixed berry pie, Monica realized she forgot to pick up a napkin at the counter, so Edelgard let her borrow a napkin from her pile so she could wipe her face clean.

After they finished their lunches, Monica led Edelgard to a corner stall in the market behind the general goods store. She looked around for Anna, but the merchant was nowhere to be found.

"What did you want to come down here for, Monica?" asked Edelgard.

"A gift," said Monica.

"For me? No, wait!" Edelgard suddenly flashed the same grin at Monica that she gave to Claude earlier. It was for only a fraction of a second, but Monica was amazed to see such an expression from her leader, who was usually cool and unflappable on the battlefield and in the classroom. "I think I know who this is for… You're thinking of buying something for Constance, aren't you?"

"Y-yeah!" There was little Monica could do to conceal her surprise that Edelgard guessed correctly on the first try. "How'd you know?"

"You practically spelled it out to Ingrid when we went to visit your father," said Edelgard. "And, of course, when Constance came out to help us fight that wild demonic beast, the two of you spent quite a bit of time hanging around each other."

_Wait a minute...did Edelgard see Connie and I holding hands?_

"In that case, Edelgard...can I ask a favor of you?" asked Monica as she scanned one of the traveling merchants' wares.

"I'm listening…"

"Can you help me pick out something nice to give to Connie when I meet her tonight? There's so much to choose from, but I don't have the first idea of what to buy! I just got lucky giving her money for that book! What if I pick something out and she doesn't like it?"

"I doubt that one bad gift will ruin your first date, as long as everything else goes smoothly. If you're that worried about what to buy for Constance, you can almost never go wrong with a flower."

Monica took a second look at the shelves in the merchant's stall. On the top shelf above a stack of books and board games, she saw colorfully-wrapped vases filled with roses, lilies, and other delicate and beautiful flowers. Without any advanced knowledge of her date's floral preferences, Monica closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to recall Constance's appearance. She swore to Edelgard she was only hesitating because she wanted to buy something that matched the colors of Constance's attire, and not because she wanted an excuse to fantasize about the young noblewoman's golden curls, or her bright blue eyes, or the elegant silver dress that fell down to her knees.

The merchant at the stall cleared his throat, interrupting Monica's brief moment of bliss. "What'll it be, ma'am?"

"I'll take one of...those!" she replied, pointing randomly at a bouquet of blue lilies of the valley.

"A fine selection," he said as he handed Monica one of the drooping blue flowers in a small, translucent vial in exchange for a handful of gold coins. "Be careful how you handle that."

"I will, sir. Thank you!"

With her gift for the evening secured, Monica was ready to treat herself for a job well done. "Wish me luck!" she said.

"Wouldn't you feel better if I told you to 'have fun' instead?" asked Edelgard.

"Yeah, that makes more sense. Thanks for your help, Edelgard! I sure hope everything goes well tonight..."

* * *

That evening, Monica ate a hearty steak dinner that stopped just short of Caspar turning it into an eating contest between them. Dorothea noticed Monica getting up from the table quicker than usual, and watched as she left out the door leading to the fishing pier while carrying her gift for Constance in a bag.

"Hey, Caspar," said Dorothea, gently nudging her hungry housemate with her elbow. "Who do you suppose Monica's going to meet tonight?"

"How can you tell that's what she's doing?" asked Caspar.

"Let's just say I know from personal experience. Sure, she could just be going into town to make a delivery, but if that were the case, then why would she go through the trouble of hiding that bag of hers?"

"Maybe we should follow her...you know, to make sure she isn't about to get into anything dangerous."

Dorothea looked around with mild concern. "Let's not be too hasty. We don't want to follow her _too_ closely."

To give their fellow Black Eagle some space, Caspar and Dorothea waited a few minutes until Monica had left so they could follow her without being noticed. Their search led them to Monica and Constance's designated meeting spot by the front gate. Neither of the two observers was in the mood to shop, making it difficult for them to look inconspicuous. Caspar heard some chatter while he was observing the weapons behind the blacksmith's workshop, and turned around to whisper to Dorothea when he saw Monica about to hand off her bag to her companion.

"She's meeting with...another girl?"

Dorothea put a finger to her lips to signal for Caspar to be quiet. They both watched as Monica gave the bag to Constance with her hand tightly covering the top to prevent anyone from seeing what was inside. When Monica's hand lingered on Constance's for a few more seconds after the hand-off, Dorothea's mouth went agape when she realized what was happening. "I knew it!" she whispered. "Monica's not in any danger! She's just going out on a little date."

"That's a relief…" said Caspar.

Dorothea winked at Caspar and tugged on his sleeve, slowly dragging him away from their observation spot. "Let's give them a little space then, hmm?"

They only got two feet away from the stall before Monica heard their footsteps and turned to face them. "Uh...hi, guys," she said. "Is there a reason you two are suspiciously close to the blacksmith stall without your weapons?"

"Well," said Caspar, "we saw you walking off toward the gate by yourself, and we wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Thanks, Caspar, but I think I'll be okay out there tonight. I'm just going to visit Connie's house for an hour or two."

Dorothea mumbled to herself as she tried to think of a different nickname for Constance, but resigned in defeat after a few tries of not coming up with anything that didn't sound silly or rude. "I forgot to thank you for your help the other day," she said, not wanting to copy the nickname Monica had given her.

"You are quite welcome," said Constance. The sun was setting off to her left, so she felt comfortable talking to everyone in her normal tone of voice. "I should also commend both your efforts in that battle. It is good to know that Monica has strong and capable companions in her class. Might I ask you for your names before we depart for the evening?"

"I'm Dorothea, and this is my friend, Caspar."

"Well met, Dorothea...Caspar… Such dignified names you have!" Constance raised her head up high and uttered a jovial laugh that echoed through the evening air. "I am Constance von Nuvelle. May we meet again on another lovely evening such as this!"

"You two take care now!" said Caspar.

"And have fun!" Dorothea added.

* * *

After separating from Dorothea and Caspar, Monica followed Constance to her house close to the edge of town. A large oak tree towered over its slate-gray roof, providing an adequate level of shade for its owner. Even with the tree's thick trunk, Monica worried that a strong enough storm or a freak lightning strike would send it crashing into any of the surrounding houses.

The interior of the house reminded Monica of her own home. The common room had a single wooden table in the center with two finely crafted wooden chairs, a pair of floor candelabra lighting the room from opposite corners, and a bookshelf full of books dealing with Crests and advanced magic theory. A simple white cloth was draped over the table to give the room a hint of elegance, and the center dish stacked with strawberries, red grapes, and jelly-filled sugar cookies begged for Monica to reach out and eat one of them.

"Would you care for some tea?" asked Constance.

"Sure, that'd be nice," said Monica.

"Feel free to look around while you wait. However, I must ask that you refrain from entering my bedroom. I am in the midst of an important personal project, and I would ask that no one touches anything inside until it is complete."

Monica nodded and waited for Constance to enter the kitchen before getting up to visit the washroom and double-check her hair. On her way out of the washroom, she saw a brief, bright flash of orange and yellow from the kitchen, and raced out to the common room to check on Constance. "Is everything okay over there?" she asked, her heart pounding with fear.

"Worry not, Monica! I am fine," her host replied, "as is the water. It'll only take a few more minutes."

Monica wasn't fully convinced, but she waited patiently at the table for the telltale sound of a tea kettle whistle. A gust of wind whipped the kitchen curtains around, even though the windows themselves appeared to be closed. By the time Monica calmed down from the kitchen scare, Constance arrived with a kettle full of hot water and poured some of it into each of their cups. "What blend of tea did you get for us, Connie?" asked Monica as she inspected the small pouches sitting to her right.

"The one on the left is bergamot tea," said Constance, "and the one on the right is a blend of berries imported from Albinea."

"Ooh! They both sound tempting, but I think I'll try the one with the Albinean berries. I used to love eating those back at home. They probably don't taste the same in tea leaf form, though."

Monica and Constance picked out their teas and began to drink them after they had cooled slightly. From Monica's perspective, the table arrangement appeared to be the same on both sides, so she assumed Constance was drinking the bergamot tea. Adding a little sugar to her own cup helped bring out the flavor of the Albinean berries that Monica remembered and loved.

"So, Monica," said Constance, "I see that you've assembled quite a colorful bunch of classmates…"

"Tell me about it," said Monica. "Two princesses, a singer, a guy who sleeps a lot, another guy who eats and fights a lot, an artist who spends a lot of time in her room, and two guys who are such polar opposites I'm surprised they can stand to be in the same room as each other… And yet, I've grown to like hanging around them in the short time I've been here this year."

"Did you say..._two_ princesses?"

"That's right. There's Edelgard, whom you've already met, and then there's Petra. She's from Brigid."

Constance blinked in surprise, almost dropping a grape on the table. "Brigid, you say? I remember hearing that they mounted an assault on House Ochs some years ago. You're the daughter of Baron Ochs, are you not?"

Monica nodded, and then lowered her head in sorrow. "Yeah...My grandfather - the previous baron - was involved in that war. He vowed to defend Ochs Castle to the death and, well...let's just say he got his wish."

Constance gasped. "Oh my! I had no idea… What about your father? Is he okay?"

"He's fine," said Monica. "He wanted to lend a hand, but Grandpa told him that if he died too, then I'd be without a true guardian, and House Ochs would fall even further into ruin."

"That sounds a lot like what happened to my house. Nuvelle was once one of the great trade hubs in all of western Fodlan. Then the invasion of Dagda happened, and those days seem much like a distant memory. My mother, my father, and my brothers...they all perished."

Monica looked on with worry as she saw Constance retreat inside herself, just as she did when they fought the demonic beast together in the brightness of the sun. Monica found herself unable to think of anything to say to cheer Constance up and take her mind off her plight. She decided to sample a few of the cookies on the central tin while she gave her date a moment to compose herself.

"Though I may no longer technically be a noble," said Constance, "I have not given up hope. I swear that one day, House Nuvelle will once again assume its rightful position of prestige in Fodlan! I will not allow my family's legacy to fall by the wayside!"

As Constance began to pick herself up again, Monica wondered how such chilly eyes could have such a fire to them. The young mage sitting across from her was steadfastly determined to fulfill her goal, no matter what it took.

"I'm curious about something, Connie," said Monica. "What drove you to ask for my help at the market?"

"It's quite simple. When I noticed the uniform you were wearing," said Constance, "I figured it would be best to ask for help from a fellow academy student. It seems my judgment was well-placed."

"Well, you know me...I'm always ready and willing to lend a hand." Monica added a playful giggle, hoping Constance was clever enough to pick up on the hint.

To her surprise, Constance placed her right hand atop the back of Monica's left hand and gently stroked it with her index finger.

"This one?"

She slowly shifted her attention to Monica's right hand. "Or _this_ one?" she teased.

The warm, tingly sensation Monica felt from drinking her tea served only to make her more responsive to Constance's touch. "Whichever one works best for you," she said.

With their tea and snacks mostly depleted, Constance turned her attention to the bag on the table, slowly lowering it from the bottom to ensure that the buds on the flower inside remained intact. "This is such a lovely gift!" she cheered. "You have fine taste in flowers, Monica. Thank you!"

"I'm glad you like it, Connie."

The light of the sun had stopped shining through the windows of Constance's house. Monica sensed it was time for her to return to her dorm, but she remembered that she had another story she wanted to tell. "Speaking of my father… I ran into this group of bandits when we traveled to the mountains to visit him. I think they were the ones who had attacked the caravan containing Anna's shipment because their leader had a magic tome almost like the one you wanted to buy."

"How unbelievably crass, to prey on innocent couriers and merchants!" said Constance, trying as hard as possible to stop herself from disrupting her elegant tea party setup. "If I had the time to travel with you, I would have force-fed those ruffians a taste of their own medicine!"

Monica had no doubt Constance could back up her threat, given her display against the demonic beast. "And that's not all… We found out that they'd been hoarding most of their loot in a nearby cave, including a bunch of letters."

"Letters? I've heard of bandits stealing gold, jewelry, weapons and the like before, but...letters?"

"Weird, isn't it? The strangest thing about that is that a lot of those letters were written by my father, and addressed to _me!_"

"That seems unusually specific for a pack of random bandits…"

Monica took a moment to try to gather all the facts she had. What did a group of bandits need with a bundle of letters written from a minor lord living out in the middle of nowhere? Why did they choose that specific junction to attack? She wanted to believe their encounter was only a coincidence, but the more she thought about it, the more likely it was that someone was out to get either her or her father. Without a motive or any solid evidence pointing to that conclusion, Monica decided not to say anything else to Constance about it out of fear of being proven wrong later. She hoped she would get some more information after the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, and then convene with Edelgard to figure out what to do next.

"Whatever their purpose was," said Constance, "most of their members are either dead or locked away in prison now. I'd say that your involvement in that incident made that part of your homeland a little safer."

Monica slowly rose from her chair, concerned about the lecture she'd get from Seteth if she stayed out too late. "I should probably be on my way now," she said. "Thank you very much for inviting me. The tea and the cookies were delicious!"

"It was a pleasure to be your hostess," said Constance as she stood up to walk her guest to the front door. "We should do something like this again soon."

"All right, but next time, _I_ get to be the host."

"Shall I hold you to that agreement?"

"You have my word. Of course, I wouldn't mind you _holding_ me, either."

"Why do I suddenly feel as if you were waiting all night to make a joke like that?" asked Constance, feigning annoyance. It was hard for her to think about getting mad at Monica for misinterpreting her offer for a second date. She was enjoying the back-and-forth game they seemed to have going. Though she anticipated the day she would get to come back to the monastery and meet Monica again, she was reluctant to let her guest go forth onto the torch-lit streets of Garreg Mach without giving her one last parting gift.

Just before Monica started to open the door, she turned to hug Constance and gaze into her eyes. The glow from the torch behind Constance only made her radiance more impressive, even if she didn't like standing out in the sunlight. Spurred forward by her quickening pulse, Monica pulled Constance closer and placed a soft kiss on her lips. Constance returned the gesture in kind, holding onto Monica a few seconds longer. "On the other hand, I certainly wouldn't object if more of our private outings ended like this one," she said. "Please take care of yourself out there, Monica."

"You take it easy too, Connie. Good luck with your project!"

Monica broke her embrace from Constance and headed outside, following the most well-lit path back to the monastery while trying to avoid running into any Knights of Seiros who were out on patrol. She tried to take deep breaths as she walked to get her pulse down to normal. Even the _appearance_ of abnormal behavior at such a late hour - singing, humming, whistling, breathing heavily, or even walking down the street too quickly - was sure to elicit a lot of unwanted questions, even if the cause of such behavior was sharing a first kiss with her crush.

Monica felt more comfortable letting her emotions run wild when she returned to the safety of her dorm, but even then she had to muffle her laughter with her pillow to avoid waking her neighbor. After calming down and changing into her night clothes, she fell asleep almost instantly with a huge smile on her face. There was no need for her to pray to the goddess for pleasant dreams that night.


	15. Non-Fatal Three-Way

There were no classes scheduled for the rest of the week as the three houses prepared to travel to Gronder Field to partake in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. Caspar was the most eager to participate because the battlefield site was within his family's territory.

The houses left early in the morning so that there would be enough light for everyone to see clearly. A fourth group of people, led by Rhea and accompanied by Seteth, Flayn, and Catherine, trailed the students and their professors. The knight-captain stood out among the participants as she was the only one wearing full battle armor, and her Hero's Relic, Thunderbrand, crackled with electricity even while it rested at her side.

While the house leaders convened with their teammates to review their strategies, the professors met by the hill on the western side of the battlefield, which was reserved for Rhea and her guests.

"Hello, Hanneman… Hello, Manuela," said Byleth. "How has your year gone so far?"

"About as well as one could expect in these times," said Hanneman. "I feel like I've made significant strides in my research. I never figured that I would find someone with as rare a Crest as yours to study."

Manuela shook her head, not keen on basking in her colleague's enthusiasm. "While I'm sure we'd both _love_ to hear you talk about Crests for the hundredth time, what I think young Byleth is asking is what you think of the students."

"Er, yes, of course. I think every one of these students has the potential to become a great leader someday. My only wish is that there were more Golden Deer interested in studying the art of magic. I can wield a bow pretty well like Claude and Ignatz, but my reflexes aren't what they used to be, even when I'm not comparing myself to them."

"My wish is that we could fight alongside our houses again," said Byleth, "like we did in the smaller-scale mock battle at the start of the year."

Hanneman took off his monocle and wiped it down with a handkerchief, and then scanned the battlefield to get a better look at his surroundings, including the ballista situated at the top of the hill in the center of the field. "As exciting as that may sound to you, Byleth, I fear that adding three more bodies to this map would only make things more chaotic. For the sake of Manuela's health and yours, I think it would be best for us to remain on the sidelines and let the students have all the fun."

"At least they'll still be using non-lethal weapons," said Manuela. "It wouldn't make sense to have them gouging and slicing each other open today and complain about their cuts and bruises next week. There's only so much my staff and I can do to keep everyone in good health. Those battle scars tend to add up after a while."

"The Battle of the Eagle and Lion is traditionally an eight-on-eight-on-eight competition," Hanneman added. "Even without the three of us taking the field, it appears that one of our houses may have a slight advantage in numbers this year."

"Are you talking about Monica?" asked Byleth, noticing Hanneman turning toward her. "She won't be participating in this battle. Seteth's orders."

"That's too bad," said Manuela. "I was looking forward to seeing her fight. She's gotten pretty good with healing lately."

"Indeed, she has. Unfortunately, it's too late to add her to the team now. Edelgard and Hubert have already detailed their plans for today's competition. It would have taken too much effort to try to fit Monica in after such a short time, especially after _that_ incident."

Byleth tried to be careful not to invoke the Death Knight in Manuela's presence, but she could tell that Manuela was still sore about her encounter with the fearsome masked man by the way she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Er…in any case, I look forward to a spirited competition between the three houses, regardless of which one wins in the end," said Hanneman.

Over on the battlefield, the three houses had gathered close to the center ballista to give one last pep talk to their teammates before Rhea announced the start of the event. They had all changed out of their regular academy uniforms into outfits that were more thematically appropriate for their classes, with colored patches to denote the house they represented – blue for the Blue Lions, yellow for the Golden Deer, and, surprisingly enough, red for the Black Eagles. Although Monica was not scheduled to participate, she still chose to wear her new Priest robes to support her team.

"While the stakes may not be high for today's contest," said Hubert, "you will all be expected to perform to your fullest potential. Remember the plan that Lady Edelgard and I have laid out for you, but do not forget to adjust your tactics as the situation calls for it. Our opponents will do everything they can to try to outsmart us. We must make sure that they do not prevail."

"That should be a trivial matter as long as I am out there on the front lines," said Ferdinand.

"Remind me why I have to capture the ballista again," said Bernadetta, tightening her grip on her longbow.

"Because whichever team controls the ballista holds a large advantage," said Edelgard. "Securing that hill will be crucial to attaining victory."

"I know that! I was specifically asking why _I_ had to do it!"

"Believe me, Bernadetta," said Caspar, "if I had even half of your bow skills, you can bet I'd be the first to grab that ballista and rain down destruction on everyone!"

"I don't think that's how a ballista works, Caspar," said Dorothea.

"Dorothea is right," said Petra. "It is requiring much more than a single bow to cause a raining of arrows."

"All joking aside," said Linhardt, "we should move to take out our opposition quickly if we hope to secure that hill. There don't appear to be as many places to hide on our side."

"After dealing with killer birds and giant wolves," said Monica, "a friendly competition like this feels almost relaxing in comparison. I wish I could be out there fighting with you guys, but I'll still be rooting for you from the sidelines. Now go out there and win one for the Black Eagles!"

The other Eagles joined in as Edelgard gave a brief motivational speech. Even the timid Bernadetta and the normally apathetic Linhardt got fired up by their leader's promise of victory.

Everyone's attention turned toward the center hill as Catherine gave a commanding shout.

"Before we begin today's event," she said, "I'd like to say a few – okay, a _lot_ of words, but I still want you to listen up. The rules are the same as the ones for the mock battle we had at the beginning of the school year, except you'll all be participating without the help of your professors. The first and most important rule: last house standing wins. Second rule: no lethal weapons or spells. We can't have you getting killed before the school year's over, now. Third rule: if you're too injured to continue fighting effectively, leave the battlefield immediately for your own safety and that of your teammates. Fourth rule: once you've been eliminated, you can't come back onto the field again. You can use that time to heal up on your own or by asking one of your teammates or our staff members to do it for you."

Rhea nodded toward Catherine, subtly pointing toward where Seteth and Flayn were now standing. Catherine took the hint and vacated the battlefield to get out of the way of the impending clash of the three armies. "Thank you, Catherine," she said. "Now that you have received your orders for today's contest, it is time for you all to show off the results of your progress over these last six moons. Is everyone ready?"

The students nodded and said "Yes, Lady Rhea," or some variations thereof, almost in unison.

"Excellent. Please head to your positions and wait for my signal."

There were three makeshift strongholds at approximately an equal distance away from the central hill, with banners on the towers matching each house's color. The placement of each stronghold was meant to mirror the location of each nation's capital – Enbarr to the south for the Black Eagles, Fhirdiad to the north for the Blue Lions, and Deirdru to the east for the Golden Deer. The bases didn't offer much defensive support as they were only meant to serve as starting points. There was enough room to fit all eight students inside, and the western hill was high enough that one only needed to lift their head above the wall or peek out of the "gate" to see Rhea and her entourage. The archbishop raised her right hand and, after a short trumpet fanfare, addressed the contestants once more.

"By the grace of the goddess and the stars above, let the Battle of the Eagle and Lion _begin!_"

As Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude scrambled across the battlefield to put their strategies in motion, Monica went over to the sidelines to meet with Flayn and the other members of the Church of Seiros. Flayn looked at Monica with delight when she saw her in her new Priest robes. "Monica! It is good to see you! I want to offer congratulations to you on your promotion."

"Thanks, Flayn," said Monica, noticing that Flayn was holding onto her own vestments to keep them from touching the grass. "I owe you big time for your help. First, you helped bring me back to life when I was dying, and then you taught me that Nosferatu spell. I only used it once to see whether or not it worked." Monica squeezed the air in front of her with her right hand, imagining that the sticky ball of blood she extracted from one of the wild wolves was still there. "It does," she added with disgust.

Flayn looked at Monica again and hummed. "There is not much in the way of material goods I can think of as repayment, so do not worry about it for now."

"Okay, then how about this: I'd like to know which of the houses you'll be rooting for today. Is it the Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, or the Golden Deer?"

"I cannot say that I have a favorite."

"Come on, Flayn. I _know_ you must want _one_ side to win. I promise you that I won't get angry if you say it's not mine."

Flayn didn't answer, leaving Monica to wonder if that was due to Flayn not being a student herself, or if she was taking a neutral stance because the Church of Seiros wasn't officially supposed to take sides.

Monica and Flayn looked for a better vantage point so they could see the battle unfolding below. The Black Eagles and the Blue Lions appeared to have the same basic strategy – send a few of their fastest and most skilled students to charge straight for the hill, while splitting up the remaining students to protect their flanks and hopefully catch one of the opposing houses off-guard. The Golden Deer, despite having more skilled archers, chose to avoid the central hill and concentrate on wearing down their opponents' defenses instead.

Ferdinand was the first to reach the base of the hill on the Black Eagles' side, with Bernadetta, the team's long-range specialist, clinging onto him for dear life as she rode on the back of his horse. Edelgard, owing much to her armor and the large shield in her hand, trailed the riding duo by several steps despite running mostly at full speed.

While Ferdinand and Bernadetta dismounted and readied their weapons to take the ballista, Linhardt and Petra followed their assigned route toward the northwestern forest. Expecting an ambush, they treaded carefully underneath the trees, with Petra putting her stealth skills to the test by slipping from one tree to the next without stepping on too many dead leaves. Linhardt did his best to keep quiet even as a pair of arrows sailed toward him and Petra. He looked over to his right and saw a white-haired boy lowering his bow and taking a few deep breaths.

"Ashe?" Petra whispered, wondering why the Blue Lions' archer hadn't gone toward the central hill to attempt to capture the ballista.

Though Ashe's arrows didn't hit their intended targets, they were enough to alert Annette to their adversaries' locations. Annette, sensing an opening, attacked the sneaking Eagles with gusts of wind. Linhardt braced himself for impact by countering Annette's spell with one of his own. Her second blast propelled Petra several feet backward, knocking the Brigidian warrior into a few trees and briefly into Ashe's line of fire. "Nice one, Annette!" said Ashe.

Annette cheered to herself for getting a good hit in on Petra, but her smile faded when she saw Petra taking her time in getting up from the ground. "Did I overdo it again?"

Linhardt looked for a safe spot to stand in so he could heal Petra from afar, but with both Ashe and Annette targeting him, he could only defend against one attack at a time. The same wind magic that dampened Annette's spell couldn't slow Ashe's arrows down enough to prevent them from striking him in the chest. The arrows didn't pierce his flesh and draw blood, but they still packed enough of a punch for Linhardt to excuse himself from the fight after Petra blindsided Ashe and Annette with a few quick sword strikes. Petra apologized to Ashe as she helped him off the field, while Linhardt and Annette walked off to the sidelines together to nurse their own injuries.

Monica looked toward the forest to her left, clapping and cheering when she saw Petra run back to reinforce Caspar and Dorothea's unit in midfield. "See? I told you Petra was strong," she said.

"It is quite difficult to see inside that forest," said Flayn. "It is a shame that we are unable to get closer to the action on the field."

"You'll get no argument from me on that one. We've got the best seats in the house, so we can still see _most_ of what's going on down there. Look!"

She pointed to Raphael, the largest and most muscular of the Golden Deer, as he attempted to fight Caspar and Petra at the same time with his fists while his partner, the lean and wiry Lorenz, assisted him. Raphael swung his fists at his attackers like a hammer and succeeded in knocking Petra out, but a few heavy swings from Caspar's axe brought Raphael down.

Lorenz, who was dueling to a stalemate against Dorothea despite his lance's reach advantage against her sword, avenged his fallen housemate by attacking her and Caspar with a pair of white bolts of energy. Dorothea was able to withstand Lorenz's surprise magical assault more readily than Caspar, and she aimed a lightning bolt at Lorenz when his guard was down to clear the area.

Meanwhile, the Black Eagles and the Blue Lions were fiercely competing for control of the central ballista, with Edelgard's team matching up against Dimitri, Mercedes, and a tall, armored Duscuran man named Dedue. Both squads appeared to be evenly matched in terms of weaponry, but Mercedes' ability to keep her leader and his retainer in good fighting shape with her healing powers made up for her lack of archery skill when compared to Bernadetta.

When Ferdinand and Dimitri crossed spears, the Faehrgus prince's aggressive attack style made it difficult for Ferdinand to find an opening even when Dedue wasn't guarding against blows from both him and Edelgard. Bernadetta slipped around them and traded shots with Mercedes, taking her down and removing the Blue Lions' main source of healing. Once they secured the advantage, Edelgard and Ferdinand pressed ever further forward to give Bernadetta a chance to take control of the ballista.

Monica jumped up and pumped a fist in the air as Bernadetta rotated the arrow launcher clockwise and fired a bolt at a group of Blue Lions and Golden Deer fighting near the eastern riverbank, hoping to take out one or more of them with one shot. Sylvain, a Cavalier with reddish-orange hair, pulled back on his horse and signaled for Ingrid to do the same. Neither she nor the grumpy swordsman standing between them understood why they were conceding ground to their Golden Deer rivals.

Bernadetta's ballista bolt striking Lysithea, the Golden Deer's other magic specialist, reminded them.

"That could have been one of us," said Sylvain as he engaged with Leonie, who had swapped out her bow for a spear to deal with close-ranged targets.

"A lucky shot," said the swordsman. "I bet they couldn't hit one like that again."

"Don't push your luck, Felix," said Ingrid. "We need to switch gears if we're ever going to take control of this fight."

To Felix's frustration, Ingrid flew off to reinforce Dimitri and Dedue on the front lines while he and Sylvain dealt with Leonie, Ignatz, and Marianne. One of Ignatz's shots knocked Sylvain off his horse, but Sylvain picked himself up and got back in the fight. Felix rushed in to take down Ignatz before he could load another arrow, and then went after Marianne to prevent her from casting Nosferatu on him with the blood from the cut on his sword arm.

When almost half of the students had been eliminated, Catherine walked over to check on the girls, who were steadily getting more engaged with the event. "Flayn! Monica! How are you two holding up?" she asked.

"We are doing just fine, thank you," said Flayn.

"Have you been sleeping well lately, Flayn?" asked Monica. "I remember you telling me that you had been having nightmares."

"Yes… On some nights when I slept, I would still think about the time after the Death Knight took me away. There were…hands grabbing at me from the darkness and pulling my body in different directions. Whenever I would try to free myself, the restraints would only grow tighter. Then I would feel sharp, stabbing pains in my arms. Even when I would turn to see what was hurting me, I could not see anything, nor could I scream to make the pain stop. When it was all over, I would wake up feeling dizzy and in need of more rest."

Monica recoiled after listening to Flayn talk about her ordeal, reflexively rubbing her own arms as if she was being stabbed again. "That's horrible! Did you at least get a chance to see who did this to you, or hear what they were saying?"

"It all happened so suddenly," said Flayn, looking as if she was going to start crying. "They did not say a word to me, or even to each other, as they were doing these things. It was difficult enough to see who they were. They were all wearing black robes that concealed their hands and facial features."

Monica wondered if the group of black-robed figures who experimented on Flayn belonged to the same group – or were even the same people – who captured and 'experimented' on her, as well.

"It figures that you'd find fiends like that deep underground," said Catherine. "They must be pretty slippery because we didn't see them when we found your bodies. Still, I'm glad we were able to find you before things completely went to hell. I've never seen Seteth so panicked before, even in the short time I've known him. I can't imagine how he'd react if we came back from that tunnel empty-handed."

Catherine turned her attention to Monica, who examined the knight-captain from head to toe to verify that she was the same person depicted on the statuette Constance gave to her. "You, on the other hand, were mostly a mystery to everyone until _after_ I learned from Seteth that you used to be an academy student. We were told the Death Knight had only taken one hostage, so we were surprised to see you in the same tunnel where we found Flayn."

"I'm confused about this whole situation myself," said Monica. "One minute I was running for my life, then I passed out, then I heard a lot of screaming, and when I came to, I was in an infirmary bed with Flayn looking after me. Everything in-between is all a blur."

"I'd like to believe the worst of it is over, but the Death Knight still managed to get away after all that. He'll think twice before setting foot on Garreg Mach again after what he did, but if he does, I'll be ready for him, and so will Thunderbrand."

Catherine's right hand slowly inched toward her trademark sword, as if she expected the Death Knight or some other enemy to leap out of the surrounding forests. However, she and the other two girls were astonished to see Claude emerging from the northwestern forest and sprinting for the central hill all by himself.

"Now, Hilda!" he shouted, prompting a pink-haired girl who had remained hidden between the northern and western stairs to attack the Blue Lions' rear flank and draw Dedue away from Dimitri. With her team close to being eliminated, she knew she needed to take every advantage she and Claude could get, especially if it meant goading the Black Eagles or the Blue Lions into making mistakes.

Bernadetta heard Claude's footsteps and got off the ballista after using it to take out Leonie as she retreated to try to get a good shot at Felix and Sylvain with her bow. Unfortunately for Bernadetta, Claude was quicker on the draw and hit her on the shoulder as she turned around, forcing her to join her friends on the sidelines. "Sorry, but it doesn't look like you'll need this anymore," he said with a grin.

The fight soon moved off the central platform, as it became clear that none of the houses needed the extra range provided by the ballista. The Blue Lions held a brief manpower advantage until Hubert and Dorothea came to take some of the pressure off Ferdinand by stopping Felix and Sylvain from attacking the Eagles from the east. Ingrid tried to make up for Dedue's distraction by slamming into Ferdinand with her pegasus, but it put her right in the range of one of Claude's arrows, taking her out of the game.

"No fair!" said Dorothea. "_I_ wanted to be the one to take out Ingrid!"

"Dorothea, this isn't the time or the place," Ingrid moaned as she slowly climbed onto Daphne's saddle to get out of everyone else's way.

Dorothea and Claude wound up eliminating each other, leaving only Edelgard and Hubert standing for the Black Eagles. They were starting to get winded, as were Dimitri and Hilda, the only ones left on the Blue Lions and Golden Deer sides.

Rhea and Seteth looked at the state of the combatants on the field and the growing numbers of their companions waiting to be healed on the sidelines, deciding that the battle had run its course. They nodded to Catherine, who raised Thunderbrand in the air and surprised the audience when a bolt of lightning shot upward from the tip of its blade. "Your attention, please! We hereby call an end to this year's Battle of the Eagle and Lion!"

Seteth stepped forward to make the final pronouncement. "The winner of this contest is…the Black Eagle House!"

Monica, Byleth, and the rest of the Black Eagles gathered around in a circle and cheered upon hearing the results. The other teams, despite losing, gave the Eagles a round of applause for their victory.

"Way to go, everyone!" said Monica. "That was an amazing show you put on out there! Especially you, Bernadetta! I had no idea you were such a good shot with a mini-ballista."

"Y-you were actually watching me?! I mean…you really think so? Thanks!" said Bernadetta. "Firing a ballista isn't as easy as using a regular bow. For one thing, it's a lot heavier, and you have to stay still the whole time while you're trying to aim. Thank goodness I had Ferdinand and Edelgard there to protect me. I _really_ don't want to know what would have happened if I missed those shots!"

Ferdinand patted Bernadetta on the back, partially to congratulate her for a job well done and to calm her nerves. "You see, Bernadetta? I told you that you had nothing to worry about," he said as he tried to project enough confidence for the both of them.

"You all should be proud of yourselves today," said Edelgard. "Whether or not you managed to score a knockout, know that your contributions to our house's victory will not go unnoticed."

"Even if we didn't win – now, don't get me wrong; I'm glad we won – I think a nice meal and some quiet chatter is the perfect activity for winding down after all the fighting we've done lately," said Dorothea. "Don't you agree, Professor?"

"Come to think of it, I _am_ quite hungry after watching all of you," said Byleth. "After this, though, you'll all need to prepare for your next lessons, as well as whatever mission Lady Rhea has in store for us."

Byleth and the other two professors led their classes back to the monastery while Edelgard followed them to chat with her rival house leaders.

"Congratulations again, Edelgard," said Dimitri. "Your house gave us quite a challenging fight today."

"No kidding," said Claude. "I thought for sure that I was going to pull off a last-minute turnaround."

"It wouldn't have nearly been as satisfying a victory without a pair of worthy opponents to fight," said Edelgard, fastening her shield and axe to her back to make herself look less threatening.

"When you put it that way, Edelgard, it sounds like you're _expecting_ a rematch."

"I agree with Claude," said Dimitri, who had been using his spear as a makeshift walking stick until he caught his breath. "Two of these battles between us is enough for me for one year."

"Fortunately, these two mock battles are just part of the school schedule," said Edelgard, "and we won't have to do any more of them for now."

"So basically, this is a church-mandated ceasefire, right?" asked Claude. "Sounds good to me!"

Dimitri's second wind came too late for his liking, but he managed to pick up the pace enough to close the distance somewhat between his group and the much larger group of students ahead of them. "We should hurry," he suggested. "The longer we linger here, the more we'll worry our classmates."

"I don't think I'll have that problem," said Edelgard. "If I know Hubert, he'll already have cleared a path to my seat for our victory feast later today."

"Having observed how often he follows you around, I can't tell whether or not you're being serious."

"Wouldn't you expect Dedue to do the same for you if you were in my position, Dimitri?"

"Well, I… um…"

Seeing Dimitri appear to flounder made Edelgard want to laugh, but deep down, she knew she had an 'unflappable' image to uphold. "Never mind," she said. "Let's head back for now."

The three house leaders looked back for a moment as a few of the Knights of Seiros stayed behind to unfasten the ballista from its mount and pick up some of the stray arrows left on the battlefield. Edelgard was surprised that Gronder Field hadn't been reduced to nothing but mud and rocks after all the mock battles it had hosted over the years. Claude wondered how much effort it took to spruce things up and hide the aftermath of the battles from the general public. Dimitri wondered how much time it took to set everything up in the first place. While they were all grateful to have one day of levity and friendly competition between the houses, they knew it was back to "business as usual" once they set foot on monastery grounds again.


	16. Sauna and Raine

_Author's note (6/1/2020): A special thanks to Luky-Yuki for designing the cool cover image of our main character. If you'd like to see more of his artwork, visit __ luky-yuki._

* * *

The first day of the Red Wolf Moon was normally a day for most of the students to relax. Byleth, Hanneman, and Manuela had less time to rest than everyone else, for they had to meet with Rhea and Seteth to receive their monthly missions. Rarely were all three teachers gathered in the audience chamber at the same time unless a task required all of their houses' efforts to handle.

Byleth was the last of the three to meet with Rhea after Hanneman and Manuela had gone to their nearby offices. The room was mostly empty, save for the usual guards standing watch outside, which gave Byleth pause as they blocked the archway behind her after she entered.

"Congratulations once again on a job well done," said Rhea. "Your Black Eagles performed admirably in the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. It appears they are taking quite well to your instruction."

"I'm grateful to have been put in charge of students who are so willing to learn," said Byleth.

"You will need their discipline and determination for your upcoming mission. It concerns the demonic beasts you helped take down a few weeks ago."

"You didn't find any more of them, did you?"

"No." Rhea's voice and expression suddenly went cold. "However, while the Knights were cleaning up the area after the carnage, they discovered a number of unusual stones in the area near the largest wolf's corpse."

_We might be dealing with more Crest Stones here,_ Byleth thought to herself. _Could they be capable of turning non-humans into monsters, too?_

"This month, I want you and all of the Black Eagles to help us further investigate the matter. Find out where these stones came from and get as much information as you can on a possible culprit. Those beasts attacked the town directly, so the perpetrator must not have gone far. If you do locate the culprit and they resist, then you may deal with them as swiftly and harshly as possible to ensure that fewer of these beasts try to harm innocents again."

"I understand, Lady Rhea."

"Before you go, Professor…" Rhea added, noticing Byleth about to exit the room.

The young mercenary pivoted on her left foot and faced Rhea again. "Yes?"

"I'd like to talk for a moment about your newest student – Monica von Ochs."

"Is there a problem?"

"I was worried that Monica would have trouble re-adjusting to school life after suddenly disappearing for several months, but it seems things have been going quite well for her. She's keeping up with her studies, and she's managed to make a few new friends."

"I'm quite impressed myself. I can only wonder how things would have changed for Monica if she had been here at the beginning of this school year instead of having to be rescued from shadowy villains."

Rhea stopped to consider the implication of Byleth's assertion. She thought that if Monica were to begin a full second year after coming so close to graduation, it would give her an unfair advantage over the other students. "I think it would be best not for us to spend too much time dealing with possibilities," said Rhea. "What is important is that she is with us now. Guide her just as you have guided your other students. Make sure she does not go astray."

"You need not worry, Lady Rhea," said Byleth. "I assure you that they are all in good hands."

After Rhea dismissed her, Byleth went straight to her office and closed the door, leaving a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob for everyone except Jeralt to follow. Sitting down at her desk, the professor took a deep breath and closed her eyes, resting her head in her hands and her elbows on the folder containing her lesson plans for the month.

_Sleeping on the job again?_

Byleth's daydream was interrupted when a young girl with long, wavy green hair, probably no older than a teenager, appeared before her. "Sothis?!" she cried. "What are you doing? And why can I still see my office? It's usually a lot darker when we meet like this."

_I'm merely acting surprised that you're still surprised by my presence. I _am_ a part of you, after all, whether you like it or not. Everything you see, I also see. Everything you hear, I also hear._

"For the record, I wasn't sleeping. I came here to gather my thoughts. So much has happened since I came back to the monastery. The bandits at Zanado, Lonato's rebellion, the Holy Mausoleum raid, Flayn's abduction… Now Lady Rhea wants me to deal with the aftermath of some monsters that attacked the town recently."

_Indeed. These last several months have been eventful…not just for you, but for me, as well. Tell me…what do you think all of those events have in common?_

Sothis attempted to lay her hands on Byleth's desk, but they passed right through without disturbing any of the papers lying on it. Byleth didn't flinch, for she saw Sothis realize her error and pull her arms back out without a scratch mark on them.

"All of them have targeted something connected to the Church of Seiros," said Byleth.

_Correct! It also raises the question of why there appear to be so many disparate groups attacking the Church._

"It would be a whole lot easier if we could just find one person responsible, kill them, and make all of these problems go away."

_Reality is never so simple._

Byleth sighed again. "I know."

_All you can do for now is focus on the mission at hand. The rest will come in time, provided you still have the conviction to seek those answers._

She peeked through a gap in her fingers to see Sothis floating above her desk, looking down on her while sitting on an invisible chair or throne. Shaking her head and blinking her eyes did nothing to make the ghostly image go away.

She wasn't dreaming.

Sothis was sitting in her office, lounging about as if she owned the place.

"I hoped I would be used to seeing things like this by now," Byleth mumbled, forgetting that Sothis was still listening to her.

Later that afternoon, Monica had gone back to the dining hall to help out with cooking. The chefs allowed her to try making some simple soups and stews. Standing over the hot stove for a long time made Monica uncomfortable, but she thought it was worth it because she got to take some of the beef stew with her for free.

Not long after she had finished eating, Monica almost bumped into Dorothea on her way back to her room. "Oh! Sorry, Dorothea!" she said. "I'll be more careful next time."

"It's okay, Monica," said Dorothea. "I was actually looking for someone to walk with me over to the sauna. I couldn't find Petra or Ingrid anywhere, so now that you're here, I figured that you and I could hang out for a bit."

"Sounds great! I'm not sure about going into the sauna, though. I'm pretty warm as it is."

"Oh, come on…it won't be that bad. We all need to relax every once in a while. Just spend a few minutes in there and you'll be a brand-new girl! Trust me."

Monica decided to go along with Dorothea, meeting up with her by the stairs after stopping in her room to gather a towel and a change of clothes. Until Byleth came to them with their mission for the month, there wasn't much else Monica wanted to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Monica was startled at first by the stark temperature difference between the cool outdoor air and the inside of the sauna. It felt like the calendar had jumped forward by at least two seasons. After changing out of her school clothes, she sat down next to Dorothea near the middle of one of the benches, taking a few deep breaths and sitting with her hands folded until she got used to the heat. Tilting her head slightly to the right, she saw Edelgard sitting by herself, breathing in and out slowly and looking more relaxed than she'd ever seen her. _If a place like this can make even Her Highness stay calm, then imagine what it could do for me!_

After a few minutes of sitting in relative silence in the sauna, Monica got accustomed to the temperature. Most of her memories of the bad things that had happened to her wouldn't go away so easily, but sitting in a peaceful environment made it easier for her to focus on things that made her happy – going back to school, making new friends, reuniting with her father, kissing Constance…

"See, Monica? Didn't I tell you you'd feel a lot better after coming in here?" asked Dorothea, peeking out of one eye and noticing Monica leaning her head back and smiling an unusually wide, open-mouthed smile. Edelgard also noticed and subtly slid toward Monica and Dorothea to try to figure out what was going on. Monica attempted to save face by quickly sitting upright and shutting her mouth.

"Monica? Why did you stiffen up all of a sudden?" asked the princess.

"N-no reason," said Monica.

"This is a place for all of us to relax. So please…smile away."

Monica wanted to sit down and lean her head back again, but she couldn't. "Actually, Edelgard, I wanted to talk to you about something. Not in here, though. It'll be less weird if I ask you about it somewhere else."

Edelgard looked at Monica, and then at Dorothea, who frowned out of worry of being left out of a potentially interesting conversation. "All right. Give me a moment to dry my hair and change my clothes, and I'll meet you by the knights' hall."

Monica felt like she had been in the sauna long enough, so she and Dorothea followed Edelgard into the ladies' changing room to dry off and get back into their school uniforms. When she stepped outside, Monica rolled up her right sleeve and rubbed it with her left hand. The scars from Kronya's knives were still visible, but they no longer felt as conspicuous as they did before. Her skin as a whole felt smoother than it did before she entered, and she was pleased with that.

Monica leaned over the railing at the top of the stairs and saw Edelgard enter the door to the common area, deciding that she would catch up to her after speaking with Dorothea for a moment. "You were right, Dorothea! I _do_ feel a little better after that."

"Told you so," said Dorothea, turning her back toward the railing to face Monica. "I get the feeling that the sauna wasn't the only thing that had you all hot and bothered in there. You were thinking about how much you wanted to see Constance again, weren't you?"

Monica started to look away from Dorothea, but then slowly tilted her head back up when she realized she had no reason to be ashamed.

Dorothea giggled. "Come on, Monica…I told you the sauna was good, but it's not _that_ good!" She cleared her throat and added, "On a more serious note, what is it that you and Edie are planning on talking about, anyway? You don't have to give me _all_ the details if you don't want to. Just a little preview is fine."

Monica saw no harm in telling Dorothea a little bit about what happened, even though she felt it would have been better to experience it for herself. "Do you remember the week I took off from class?" she asked.

"Yeah… The Professor said you were off doing some additional training so that you wouldn't fall behind the rest of us," said Dorothea.

"That's true, but that's not all there was to it."

"Oh? What else were you doing out there?"

"I was worried about my father." Monica paused as she watched the joyful look on Dorothea's face evaporate. "When I came back to the monastery, I wanted to get in touch with him as soon as possible, but he didn't respond for a couple of weeks, so I thought something bad might have happened to him."

"My goodness! Is he okay?" asked Dorothea.

"Yeah, he's fine. We talked for a bit, and he treated me, Edelgard, Ingrid, and Leonie to dinner."

"Your father sounds like a pleasant man, Monica…at least more pleasant than most of the nobles _I've_ ever dealt with. Present company excluded, of course," Dorothea added hastily.

Monica wasn't sure how to interpret Dorothea's statement, or how to respond to it without sounding insensitive. Most of the Black Eagles came from high-ranking noble families, so if Dorothea had such bad experiences with nobles in the past, Monica could only imagine how awkward it must have been for her on her first days at the academy. "I'm gonna go meet with Edelgard now," she said after hesitating for a moment. "Thanks again for inviting me out!"

"Sure thing! I'll probably catch up with you and Edie later on. See ya!"

Monica walked on toward the knights' hall, not stopping to talk to any of the other students along the way. Once inside, she saw Edelgard sitting on the sofa and looking over a small bundle of letters by the fireplace, with Felix and Leonie standing off to the side exchanging gifts.

"So, how 'bout it? You give me some of those arrowheads, and I'll give you a couple of whetstones I found," said Leonie.

Felix reached into the bag Leonie handed him and inspected one of them. "You sure these are still usable, Leonie?" he asked. "They look pretty scratched up."

Leonie frowned. "Of course, they're still usable. They're there, aren't they? Someone just tossed them out and I couldn't just let that go!"

"I guess I'll take your word for it."

After giving his bag of iron arrowheads to Leonie, Felix looked at Monica as she entered the room. "Say…you look familiar," he said.

"I do?" asked Monica, pointing to herself. She wondered what Felix was talking about as she was too far away to point him out among the many students battling at Gronder Field.

"Yeah. You're the 'new girl' I fought in the training arena a few weeks ago, aren't you?"

Suddenly, it came back to her. Out of the three people she dueled that day, Felix was the only one who stood out. She was satisfied that she could now put a name to the face who was staring coldly at her, just as he did in their duel. "Uh, yeah. That was me. I'm Monica, by the way," she said, unsure whether or not he would accept a handshake if she offered it. "I didn't know you were friends with Leonie."

"'Friends' isn't quite the word I'd use," said Leonie. "We're more like 'sparring partners' for now."

To Monica's surprise, Felix offered his hand to her, still keeping his stone-faced expression as she shook it. "I'm Felix. It's too bad you weren't available for the big battle we just had. I was looking forward to seeing if you've improved since then. Care for a rematch?"

"Maybe some other time. I have some personal business to attend to right now."

"In that case, I should probably get going myself," said Felix. "The last thing I need right now is for the boar to come searching for me."

Felix quickly and quietly exited the knights' hall, with Leonie shortly following after him. "Hey, wait up!" she cried.

As Monica wondered why Leonie was following Felix or who or what kind of "boar" he seemed desperate to avoid, she sat down on the sofa as Edelgard put away the letter she was reading. "Hey, Edelgard!" she said. "What were you reading just now?"

"Letters from the capital," said Edelgard.

"Good news, I hope?"

Edelgard shook her head. "Not all of it. I wish I could tell you more, but it mainly deals with high-level political matters. You'd probably find it pretty boring."

"Have you heard any new information about our little caravan robber friend from earlier?"

"Yes, I have, actually. The bandit we apprehended goes by the name of 'Raine'. She and her gang have been attacking caravans across western Fódlan recently, in search of rare books and magic tomes. We're not yet sure where she hails from, but she was originally spotted in southern Faehrgus, in the vicinity of the Western Church."

Monica, who had been absent when the Western Church attacked the Holy Mausoleum, sat up and listened to Edelgard explain the growing tension between the Western and Central branches of the Church of Seiros, and how a routine raid on Seiros' coffin ended with Byleth obtaining the Sword of the Creator. It was a surprising turn of events that Monica thought could only have been written in a storybook. She expressed her disbelief that a branch of the Church of Seiros would engage in such unholy activity. Edelgard tried to assure Monica that even though Raine's campaign started near the Western Church, there was no clear evidence that she was working directly for them.

"Something's been bothering me about this whole thing," said Monica. "What was Raine's gang doing so close to my homeland, anyway? They couldn't have just been there for books like the one Connie was after. Why else would they have taken all those letters from my father? I've never seen or heard of that woman before, and she didn't look like she knew who we were, either."

"The only explanation that makes sense to me is that someone else put her up to it," said Edelgard. "If the Western Church isn't responsible, then—"

"Do you think she was working with the people who kidnapped me?" Monica suddenly asked. She slowly slid toward the left arm of the sofa, worried that Edelgard would shout at her for interrupting.

"I was just about to get to that."

"Sorry."

Edelgard stood up to give Monica more room on the couch as she explained her theory on the events that brought Monica back to Garreg Mach. "Whoever kidnapped you must have wanted to make it look like you vanished without explanation. To that end, they also hired someone to make sure nobody tried to contact you in case you escaped to safety. That's why Baron Ochs assumed you died when you didn't respond to any of the letters he'd been writing to you. He knew you weren't the type to run away or sneak off somewhere without telling him, so he feared the worst-case scenario had happened. Raine was probably so focused on keeping you from getting any messages from your father that she failed to account for _you_ writing a letter back to _him_."

"Fortunately, when we saw her on that road, she only 'recognized' me as an academy student," said Monica. "I never told her my name."

"She shouldn't trouble us – or anyone else – again for a while. However, I'm afraid Raine's presence only solves part of the mystery. We now have an idea why your kidnappers went through all that trouble to make it look like you disappeared. We still need to figure out who Raine took her orders from, and what drove them to kidnap you in the first place."

"If only it were as easy as finding the nearest group of people in black cloaks and shaking them down for information…"

Edelgard gasped quietly and looked at her letters again.

"What's wrong, Edelgard?" asked Monica. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," said Edelgard. "What you just said reminded me of something."

"Is there anything I can do to help? If it's a big secret, I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Not right now…or here. Come see me again after our next mission, and I might feel more comfortable talking about it."

As Edelgard gathered her letters and prepared to take them to a quieter place to re-read them, Dimitri entered the room and looked around. "Ah! Hello, Edelgard…Monica… Good to see you both," he said.

"Good to see you, too," said Monica.

"Are you looking for someone, Dimitri?" asked Edelgard.

The prince made another quick sweep of the room before focusing on Edelgard and Monica. "Yes, I am. Have either of you seen Felix lately?"

"He was just in here a few minutes ago," said Monica. "I don't know which way he went, though."

"I see… Thank you for your help. I suppose I'll go look for him elsewhere, then."

"Before you go," Edelgard called out to him as he prepared to leave, "can you tell me if your house has received its mission for the month yet?"

"We have. In fact, that's the reason I'm looking for him. I'm trying to gather everyone in the classroom for our strategy session, and he's one of the only holdouts."

"I should meet up with my professor, then. She should be on her way soon. Monica, meet me in the classroom as soon as you're done here."

"Sure thing," said Monica. She started to follow Edelgard out of the room when she realized that Dimitri must have been the "boar" Felix was talking about earlier. She had seen her share of boars growing up in the mountains, and Dimitri didn't remind her of any of them. Boars were wild and reckless, and Dimitri seemed very calm and collected – sort of like Ingrid. "So, Dimitri, what kind of mission is your house going on this month?" she asked him.

"The last two big missions assigned to us dealt with family disputes in my homeland of Faehrgus," he said. "First, it was stopping a rebellion led by Ashe's father, and then we had to defeat a band of thieves led by Sylvain's brother and recover his stolen Hero's Relic. Fortunately, we won't have to do anything like that this time around. That said, I'm still not looking forward to it."

"Why not?"

"We've been asked to investigate strange occurrences around the Valley of Torment."

Monica was shocked. She didn't understand why anyone, man or beast, would want to go anywhere near such a scorching hellhole for any reason. Aside from the obvious "death by lava" hazard, it would take incredible willpower, as well as top-of-the-line heat-resistant protective gear, to spend more than five minutes in that area without choking from smoke or passing out from heat exhaustion. "It's too bad that it's probably too late to ask Lady Rhea for a second opinion," she said, "so all I can do is wish you guys good luck and safe travels. Oh, and try to stay cool, okay?"

"Thank you," said Dimitri. "I will try."

Dimitri left the knights' hall and walked toward the training arena, believing Felix would be there if he had not already returned to the Blue Lions' classroom. Monica, not wanting to be late for her own house's strategy meeting, bid farewell to Dimitri and headed directly to the Black Eagles' classroom, eager to find out what her next big mission would be, but still uncertain about what Raine and her gang were really after.


	17. A Stone Cold Case

A few minutes after leaving her office, Byleth returned to the Black Eagles' classroom to see her students talking among themselves. "All right, everyone, listen up!" she ordered, prompting all of them to scramble to their seats as she walked to the center of the room. "You all fought well at Gronder Field, and I'm proud of how far you've all come in the past six months. Your next mission will be a little less action-oriented than the last one, but I still expect you all to be in top form."

"What do you mean by that, Professor?" asked Ferdinand.

"We've been asked to assist with the investigation of the origin of the demonic beasts that attacked the town last month."

"That's it? Sounds pretty boring if you ask me," said Caspar.

"The knights found some unusual stones scattered around the pack leader that we defeated. There may still be more out there."

"More wolves, or more stones?"

"Hopefully only the latter. Your mission for this month is to gather information from any witnesses to the attack. Feel free to share your findings amongst yourselves, but if you _do_ find any strange stones lying about, _be very careful_ around them," said Byleth, waving her finger around to emphasize her seriousness.

"May I suggest that we get started on this as soon as possible to ensure we can still find any evidence?" asked Edelgard.

"That sounds like a good idea. You can use the weekends and your free time after class to investigate. We'll continue with the daily lessons and chores as normal, starting tomorrow. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Professor," said the students.

"To make things more convenient, you'll be split off into groups of three. Edelgard, since you're our house leader, you'll be in charge of one of the teams and get first pick on who goes with you."

Edelgard got up from her desk and stood next to Byleth, only taking a few seconds to examine everyone before pointing to her two selected teammates. "Hubert and Dorothea," she said. The other students were bewildered by how quickly she made her decision. "I'll be counting on you to help us solve this mystery quickly."

"You can count on me, Edie," said Dorothea.

"A wise decision, as usual, Lady Edelgard," said Hubert. "I, of course, have a few theories about our culprit, but it would be foolish of me to divulge that information without examining any of the evidence."

"Do I have any other volunteers?" asked Byleth.

Ferdinand stood up next after Edelgard returned to her seat. "Allow me to lead one of the groups, Professor," he said.

Hubert scoffed and scowled at Ferdinand. "How predictable of you."

"I am not sure what you mean, Hubert."

"Did you think I wouldn't notice how quickly you offered yourself to be one of the leaders? Feign innocence all you want, Ferdinand, but your futile attempt to position yourself as Lady Edelgard's superior is as plain as day."

"Give it a rest, you two," said Caspar, groaning loud enough for the whole classroom to hear. "Don't you guys get tired of arguing like this?"

"There is no argument here, Caspar," Hubert replied. "I am merely trying to caution Ferdinand not to jeopardize our mission by wasting his time on petty one-sided feuds."

Byleth interrupted to try to stop the conflict from escalating. "Okay… Um, who would like to lead our last team?"

The remaining students sat in silence for several seconds until Monica raised her hand. "I would, Professor," she said as calmly and confidently as possible. Once again, everyone remained quiet, save for Hubert, who muttered "Interesting" to himself before looking up at the rest of his classmates.

"Very well, Monica. You can lead the third team. Does anyone else have any objections?"

More silence.

"Good. Both of you can go ahead and pick your two teammates now."

When the teams were fully distributed, Ferdinand had chosen Petra and Caspar, while Monica teamed up with Linhardt and Bernadetta. Monica was relieved that there were no protests from either side regarding any of the captains' picks.

"Now that we have our three teams, does anyone have any other questions?"

"I have a question, Professor," said Bernadetta. "What are you going to be doing while we're out searching? Surely, you're not going to leave me – I mean, us – alone to explore the town ourselves, are you?"

Byleth turned to Bernadetta, who had started to curl up into a ball behind her desk. "Not at all. I'll be investigating as well, but I won't hover over all of you all the time. All I ask is that you share any new information with me when we see each other. Does that clear things up a little for you?"

"Yeah… I think I get it…"

"With that in mind, this session is now over. I wish you all the best of luck."

The three teams split up to discuss their mission plans after Byleth left the room. Monica didn't have to go far to meet with Linhardt and Bernadetta as she was still sitting between them in the back row.

"That was quite nice of you to offer to lead one of the teams, Monica," said Linhardt. "Thank you."

Monica turned to her left when she heard Linhardt yawn. "What the-?! Did you really sleep through all that?!"

"It's best not to think about it," said Bernadetta, "and better still not to disturb him when he's sleeping."

"I'm impressed that Linhardt's still able to hear everything around him like that. When I go to sleep, I try to tune out everything. It doesn't always work, but I _do_ try."

Monica turned to a blank page in one of her notebooks, which had partially been filled up with notes from earlier lectures. The tip on her pen was mostly worn down, but it still worked well enough to write without leaking ink everywhere. She pulled out her chair and pushed it all the way to the back wall to allow herself to see Linhardt and Bernadetta better without repeatedly turning her head back and forth. "Let's review what we know so far," she said. "It'll help us cut down on aimless wandering when we start our investigation. We should probably start with the beasts themselves."

"I remember Hubert saying something about the leader of the wolf pack having possibly been exposed to a Crest Stone," said Linhardt. "I don't know how accurate of a guess that is, but we can't rule out the possibility. Wild animals don't grow that large without magic to aid them."

"Have you guys seen monsters like that before?"

"Not personally," said Bernadetta, "but a couple of months ago, there was an incident where someone transformed into a demonic beast. They say there was a Crest Stone involved with that one, too."

Monica wrote down Hubert, Linhardt, and Bernadetta's statements and tried to use them to draw a conclusion with a few stories she heard recently. According to Leonie and Dimitri, a mission to defeat a band of thieves who had stolen a Hero's Relic ended in a battle against a demonic beast, with no indication that there were any monsters among the thieves' party. It became clear to Monica that one of them had transformed into the creature, making it even more necessary to quickly kill him for the safety of the surrounding towns and villages. "Was the Crest Stone itself the cause of the transformation…or do you think there's something else involved?" she wondered.

Linhardt perked up a little when he saw that Monica was talking about something that interested him. "Professor Hanneman says that Crests are passed down through bloodlines, and that most Hero's Relics can only be used by members of that bloodline. If someone without a Crest attempts to use a Relic, it can bring about, shall we say…'unpredictable consequences'."

"Like turning into a giant monster?" asked Bernadetta, shivering and rubbing her arms vigorously.

"Again, it can't be ruled out," Linhardt added. "If Crest incompatibility is capable of mutating humans, then it would be easier for the same thing to occur in animals that naturally wouldn't be related to the Ten Elites. We would have to witness a transformation for ourselves to verify it."

"What do you think we should focus on first?" asked Monica. "Should we try to search for more of these Crest Stones? Ask the villagers if they know anything? Try to figure out where these monsters are coming from?"

"We'll have a much easier time solving this mystery if we weren't all doing the same thing at once. It wouldn't make sense for _all_ of us to go door-to-door interviewing people, would it? I say we focus on finding more Crest Stones to ensure they don't fall into the wrong hands."

"Who exactly would the _right_ hands be, Linhardt?" asked Bernadetta. "If they're really as dangerous as the Professor says they are, there's a chance we could get mutated, too!"

"Then we'll just have to handle them with caution. We should bring any stones we find to Professor Hanneman for analysis."

Bernadetta looked up and noticed that Edelgard and Ferdinand's teams had left the classroom building. "Now that I think about it, I'd rather have one of the other teams do the interviewing… I don't think I'd be able to get much information out of anyone."

"I wouldn't mind doing the talking for our group," said Monica, "but I agree with you guys. Searching for these Crest Stones is definitely the way to go. We'll need to get some supplies – three pairs of gloves and some bags for carrying any stones we find."

"I can handle the bags, no problem," said Bernadetta, smiling for what Monica thought was the first time all day.

"And I'll secure us some gloves," said Linhardt. "Let's meet outside your room after class on Monday, Bernadetta."

"Why do we have to start from _my_ room? Couldn't we use yours, Monica?"

"I'd like to offer mine," said Monica, "but your room is the closest to town. I'd like to do as little walking as possible if we can help it."

"In that case, I guess I could let you guys come over…but you have to stay outside, and you have to knock so that I know it's you. Okay?"

Monica, noticing Bernadetta tensing up again, quietly nodded toward her. "Okay! Bernadetta, Linhardt… I'll see you both after class." She laughed to herself on her way out, wondering if Byleth had ever used that line on anyone.

Later that afternoon, Monica decided to look for Edelgard and Ferdinand to figure out how they planned to help complete their mission. On her way back to her room, she saw Anna rounding the corner from behind the dorm building. Monica didn't notice anything weird about that area when she took her last tour, but Anna suddenly appearing from there made her curious. She waited for Anna to finish counting the coins in her pouch before calling out to her.

"Hey there, Monica!" said Anna. "What are you up to at this hour?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Monica replied. She glanced off to the side to survey the gap between the dormitory wall and the stairs to the sauna, still failing to detect anything unusual. "Anyway, have you seen Edelgard at all today?"

"Sorry… Can't say that I have. I've been really busy over the last few weeks. Buying, selling, searching for new customers, searching for new and rare goods… The life of a merchant is never easy."

Monica looked at the sword and dagger on Anna's waist and wondered how often she had to use them to protect herself from robbers. She thought her caravan driver could also have used one to help fight back against Raine's gang.

"What do you need from Edelgard this time?" asked Anna.

"We're working together on this big cleanup project," said Monica. "We think there may still be some stray Crest Stones in town after that big monster attack, and we're trying to figure out where they came from."

"Sounds like a big deal, especially if they've got you guys on the case."

"We want to try to get as many of those things off the street as we can. The last thing we need is for someone to pick it up and get hurt, or worse."

Anna raised her right index finger to her lips and looked to the sky. "It doesn't sound like they'd be very valuable to anyone…" Suddenly, she had an idea. "Tell you what…since you helped me get my stuff back, I'll keep an eye out for any of those weird stones for you. What do they look like, anyway?"

"They could be any size, shape or color, really," said Monica. "I think the ones I saw on the biggest beast were some dark shade of red or purple."

"Got it. If I find any, I'll try to keep them safe for you."

Anna hummed to herself on her way back to her stall in the market, adjusting her sheaths so that her sword and dagger didn't drop. Monica decided to catch up with Anna later, as her top priority of the moment was coordinating her plans with the other team leaders. She was happy that she could wander the campus without getting confused or disapproving looks from the other students.

She spotted Ferdinand in the common area, staring at Hilda as she swayed back and forth with her hands behind her back. Monica couldn't see if Hilda was carrying anything behind her back because she was on one of the lower stair levels.

"Come on, Ferdinand!" Hilda pleaded. "Can't you just close your eyes for a few seconds? I promise I won't do anything funny."

"I am not sure if I should," said Ferdinand, trying to keep his head still. "I need to stay vigilant at all times. Even the slightest lapse of concentration could leave me susceptible to surprise attacks and practical jokes."

"It's not a joke. Trust me!"

"I cannot be so sure when you have your hands behind your back like that, Hilda."

Hilda dropped her smile and the lilt in her voice and placed something in his hands, maintaining eye contact the whole time. "Why don't you look down and see for yourself?"

Ferdinand was less weary of listening to Hilda when he was able to see what she wanted from him. He looked down at his hands and saw that she had given him a beaded bracelet containing a plate with his name painted on it. "This is very impressive!" he said after inspecting it and checking his hands for wet paint. "You have an excellent eye for craftsmanship. Did you make this yourself?"

"Not _all_ by myself," said Hilda. "The design is all mine, but Marianne helped me pick out the right beads. That one's all yours."

Ferdinand slipped the bracelet onto his left wrist, surprised by how easily it fit without any adjustments. "Thank you very much!"

"I'm glad you like it. I made one for everyone in the Golden Deer, and I wanted to get some feedback from others to see if they'd like some, too."

Monica waited for Hilda and Ferdinand to notice her before approaching, hoping to avoid a repeat of her first day back on campus.

"Is this a new friend of yours, Ferdinand?" asked Hilda.

"Yes, she is," said Ferdinand. "Monica, have you met Hilda yet?"

"Not until now," said Monica, holding her hand out for Hilda to shake, "but it's always nice to meet someone new."

Hilda hesitated for a second before lightly gripping Monica's hand. "Monica…Monica… I think I remember hearing your name from Claude. You were here last year, weren't you?"

Without offering any details, Monica answered, "Yeah. It wasn't the best of experiences, that's for sure."

"Oh… Well, at least you'll have a chance to make things better for your last few months, right? Word of advice, though: try not to sneak up on people like that. If Ferdinand hadn't introduced me to you, I'd have mistaken you for some kind of spy! You can't be too careful about spies these days."

"Sorry… I'll try to be more careful from now on."

Monica admitted that the circumstances of her return raised more questions than answers. She wanted to try to finish the school year without any issues despite everything she'd been through, but fighting monsters and bandits weren't making things easy. Hilda's suggestion of someone in Garreg Mach being a spy didn't sound too crazy, given how easy it was for the demonic beasts to find and attack the town. That information was sure to come up in the Black Eagles' investigation of the incident, but it would be up to Edelgard or Ferdinand to figure it out.

"I should probably get going," said Hilda. "I wanted to relax a little more, but I'm due over in the training arena. I don't understand why Professor Hanneman wants us to get all worked up now. We've got until the end of the month to complete our house's mission…"

"What's your house working on this month, Hilda?"

"Lady Rhea wants us to take a 'pilgrimage', as she calls it, to the Eastern Church. I have a few friends who live around that area, and I hope I get to see them while we're over there. I've never been to that church myself, but it can't be nearly as chaotic as what's going on with the Western Church…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Monica warned. "If Claude or Professor Hanneman is making you train extra hard for this, then they're probably expecting _something_ bad to happen along the way."

"That's just what I'm afraid of…"

Hilda casually strolled past Monica, taking quiet breaths to conserve her energy on her way to the arena. Monica waited for Hilda to walk past the garden before turning to Ferdinand. "Wow! That's a nice-looking bracelet you have there," she said. "Hilda must really like you if you were one of the first people outside of the Golden Deer to get one."

"Do you think so?" asked Ferdinand. "She said she was looking for feedback on her designs, so I think more people might get some later."

Monica wanted to see one of Hilda's bracelets but considered it inappropriate to ask for one when they'd only known each other for a few minutes. She also worried whether Constance would get jealous of her accepting gifts from others.

"Anyway," said Monica, lowering her voice slightly, "I wanted to ask you – and Edelgard, wherever she is – about your plans for our big mission. I'm going with Linhardt and Bernadetta to look around for Crest Stones, assuming the knights didn't already collect them all. It's possible that the big beast we killed may not be the only one that has them."

"That makes sense," said Ferdinand. "While you are doing that, I will take Caspar and Petra to follow the tracks of these monsters."

"Are you sure you'll be okay just leading a team of three?"

"I understand your concern, Monica, but all I wish to do right now is search for their habitat. Once we have assessed the potential danger, we can more accurately determine how much manpower we will need to face this threat."

"I guess that leaves Edelgard's team to interview the witnesses…"

Ferdinand turned away from Monica, making a noise that sounded somewhere between a hum and a cough.

"What? Are you afraid that Edelgard won't do a good job?" she asked, frowning at him.

"_She_ is not who I am most worried about," said Ferdinand.

"Really? Then who?"

"Hubert is…let us just say 'difficult' when dealing with people other than Edelgard. I fear he may go overboard with his questioning, especially if he thinks her safety is on the line."

"I'm sure she has her reasons for keeping him around that aren't just based on personal loyalty. It would be nice to get the information we need by having someone like Edelgard or Dorothea sweet-talk everyone. Of course, there _are_ people who wouldn't be so easily swayed by such talk. You know…people like Hubert."

Ferdinand laughed along with Monica and then looked around to make sure Hubert or anyone working for him wasn't eavesdropping. "Regardless, I believe it is important that we all put forth our best efforts this month," he continued, "not only for the Professor's sake, but also to put the minds of the townspeople at ease."

"Yeah. If we can figure out where those monsters are coming from and why they attacked us, then I think they'll be happy. I just hope we don't have to fight another one of the big ones again for a while…"


	18. Full of Curiosities

Class resumed on Monday with an emphasis on logical and spatial reasoning questions. Monica had trouble understanding Byleth's explanations until Edelgard suggested drawing the problems as Byleth described them. The accompanying visual aids made them much easier to solve. Monica wished that Byleth would try to draw them herself on the chalkboard to save her students from using so much ink.

After class had finished for the day and everyone had eaten lunch, Monica was assigned to ground patrol duty with Petra, where they would patrol most of the major areas of the monastery to protect it from intruders while others were studying. When she considered how the major gateways were closely guarded during class hours, she wondered if it was just Byleth's attempt to get her to stay in shape by making her take a long walk around campus.

They started by walking around the perimeter of the main building, past the two gazebos in the garden. Monica had a better view of the giant orb in the second gazebo where she had her first private conversation with Edelgard. Just beneath the orb was a dais with thick black lines drawn in an unusual pattern. She hadn't seen anything like it outside the garden, and she wondered what the symbol was supposed to represent.

What amazed Monica the most about the structure was how uninterested everyone else seemed to be about its presence. She didn't see anyone staring at it or hear anyone else talk about it. The general lack of interest may have been the reason behind the lack of benches, as well as the nearby mealtime gazebo having a much cleaner setup. There had to be a reason for it being left unguarded.

Monica noticed Petra's breathing become quieter and less regular when they rounded the walls near the cemetery and walked toward the stables. "What's wrong, Petra?" she asked. "Is the smell getting to you? I know it _can_ be a bit overwhelming."

"The smell of the horses does not bother me," said Petra. "When I am taking long walks like this, I am not finding it necessary to breathe quickly. Patrols can be tiring, so I must take quiet, but deep breaths."

When Monica tried to mimic Petra's breathing rhythm, she found herself unable to do it as quietly, and it made her feel more exhausted than when she tried to breathe normally.

"It is a simple technique, but it is not meant to be used by everyone. If you are not feeling comfortable, Monica, then perhaps you should not be trying to do what I am doing."

"I'm fine," said Monica, huffing and puffing for a moment until she resumed her normal breathing pattern. "I mean, I think I'll be fine."

After they completed a lap around the outer edge of the campus, Monica and Petra stopped to get a good view of the canyon by the bridge, with their attention drawn to the pit below instead of the wyverns flying above it.

"Have you ever thought of going mountain climbing, Petra?"

Petra shook her head. "Why are you asking?"

"Take a look at the layout of the monastery and the positioning of the cathedral. _Someone_, probably centuries ago, had to have been adventurous enough to build a chapel on a big mountain like this one. Without this bridge to connect it to the lands below, this place would have a difficult time attracting regular visitors. The main entrance is facing to the south, so the only way you could safely get in from Leicester or Faehrgus is through one of the rear entrances."

"From where we are standing right now," said Petra, "it is feeling to me more like a castle or a fortress than a cathedral. It has some similarities with the Brigid Royal Palace, except my home palace does not have mountains."

"It's pretty cool to look at from the outside, though. Don't you think?"

The large iron gate that slid open to let Monica and Petra inside did little to challenge their assumption. They also determined that it would be much more efficient to fly through the canyon than to climb up through the sides, believing most people or creatures would tire out halfway through an attempt and fall to their apparent deaths anyway.

Inside the more inviting confines of the cathedral, Petra noticed Ignatz and Flayn sitting in one of the front-row pews and chatting with each other. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but it looked like they were enjoying themselves.

"Petra! Monica! What brings you all the way out here?" asked Ignatz.

"We are patrolling the area for intruders," said Petra.

"It looks like the place is already secure, though," said Monica. "What are you two up to?"

"Ignatz was telling me about his family's shop back home," said Flayn. "He says that he is worried for their safety, so he came here to say a prayer for them."

"Is that why you came to the academy, Ignatz? To become strong enough to protect them?"

"It was actually my parents' idea," he said with a hint of regret. "There aren't many good schools where I live, so they enrolled me at the Officers Academy because they thought it would be my best shot at getting a good education. Plus, they think that by being around the famed Knights of Seiros, I might be inspired to become one myself. Honestly, I still don't know if I've gotten the hang of it yet."

"I wouldn't worry too much about getting it all down right away. One year of school can only teach you so much. It took me that long just to learn how to fight with a sword and a spear. I mean, sure, I was only ten years old at the time, and—that's probably not the best example, is it?"

Monica looked dismayed as her anecdote appeared to confuse Ignatz and Flayn. Petra, who had been standing next to her during her explanation, seemed to understand.

"No, it's all right," said Ignatz. "I'll keep working at it, but I often wonder if I'm meant for a different calling…"

"Will you both be staying much longer?" asked Flayn.

"Actually, I have to go and meet with Linhardt and Bernadetta after we report to our Professor," said Monica.

"And I must be meeting with Ferdinand and Caspar," said Petra.

"I see. Shall I offer a prayer of guidance for you before you go on your way?"

Flayn stood up from her pew and waited for the three students to gather close to one another. Ignatz and Monica closed their eyes and bowed their heads, pointing their hands skyward. Petra stood between them with her head bowed, but she kept her hands at her sides as she was unsure what Flayn was going to do or say next.

"Dear Goddess," Flayn continued, "please watch over these young men and women as they venture outside this sanctuary. Protect them as you would your own children. Guide them so that they can return safely into your arms, and into your light."

Monica opened her eyes and sighed as a slight tingle coursed through her body, making her feel like a fragment of the goddess' power had entered her.

"Thanks, Flayn," said Monica. "I'm going to go look for my professor now. How long are you guys going to stay here? Dinner time's coming up soon, and I wouldn't want either of you to miss out."

"Perhaps I should get something to eat… I _am_ getting a little hungry, and it would take a long time to have food delivered here."

"I think I'll go get something to eat, too," said Ignatz. "Raphael's probably already waiting for me in the dining hall. See you later!"

Ignatz and Flayn left the cathedral and walked toward the cafeteria. Monica and Petra, hoping to find Byleth near her office, looked around the second floor until they found her in the library, putting away a book she had recently finished. "How did your patrol go?" she asked. "Did you find anything?"

"We had good fortune not to discover anything suspicious," said Petra.

"We weren't really expecting to find much anyway," Monica added. "However, I noticed this weird floating orb in one of the garden gazebos earlier. Have you seen it before, Professor? Do you know what it's used for?"

"Yes, I have," said Byleth, "but I don't know what it does, either. One of these days, I'll have to take a closer look at it. Right now, however, I'm going to train with Catherine and Captain Jeralt. Please be careful if you're going to go outside the monastery tonight."

"Yes, Professor," said her two students.

One of the librarians went to the shelf where Byleth placed the book she had been reading to make sure it was properly categorized and alphabetized. Monica wanted to see what kind of book it was, but she and Petra decided to leave because they had more important things to do.

"This monastery is full of curiosities," said Petra. "I am not used to being inside buildings with this much complexity."

"A place this big has to have secret passages," said Monica, pumping her fists with determination. "It would certainly make getting around this place a lot easier…and I'll bet that orb I saw has to be hiding something!"

Monica separated from Petra and went to her room once they reached the dorms. She wanted to keep her sword by her side in case she ran into any trouble during her mission. The shield would have to stay behind, for it was too bulky and conspicuous to carry around town for a routine clean-up operation.

After looking at her desk mirror and quickly combing her hair, she went back outside and turned to her right to head toward Bernadetta's room. She had only made it past two of the other students' rooms when she heard a pair of familiar female voices calling out to her.

Looking further down the road, she saw Constance and Mercedes walking underneath the overhangs, with Constance taking special care to stick close to the walls, only stepping ahead of Mercedes when she got close enough to reach out for Monica's waiting arms.

"Connie! Hi!" Monica slowly released her embrace and grabbed Constance's hands while Mercedes nodded quietly. "It's so good to see you!"

"And I am also glad to see you," said Constance. "Mercedes and I are on our way to the sauna. Have you tried it out yet?"

"Oh, yes! I found it very relaxing. I might go there again soon. My room's practically right next to it, after all."

"Is that so?"

A giggle from Mercedes stopped Constance from elaborating further.

"So, Mercedes," said Monica, breaking the moment of awkward silence between them, "you and Connie are friends, huh? How long have you two known each other?"

"Constance and I go pretty far back," said Mercedes. "My brother and I first met her at a party in Enbarr about ten years ago. Our houses were so far apart, with Nuvelle far to the west and Bartels far to the east, so we had trouble arranging meetings with each other more than once a year. We would keep in touch by writing letters to one another."

"Sadly, I lost contact with Mercedes and Emile for a short while after the war broke out," said Constance. "It wasn't until I traveled to Fhirdiad to study at their famous School of Sorcery that I learned that Mercedes was also in the area. She had moved out to Fhirdiad, but she told me that she had only traveled with her mother. Poor Emile was nowhere to be seen…"

"I know he's old enough to take care of himself, but as his big sister, I still worry about him. I have a feeling I may have seen him recently…"

Monica didn't know anyone at the monastery named Emile. None of the monks or lower-level Knights of Seiros were addressed by name around the students. She believed that if he once worked for the Church, he would have been an instructor or a cardinal or someone else of similarly high status. She wanted to believe that Emile was doing fine, but without the same personal connection to him that Mercedes and Constance seemed to have, there was little that Monica could say or do to help them find him. "Wherever he is," she said, "I hope he's doing okay."

"Thank you," said Mercedes.

"Are you certain you don't have time to join us, Monica?" asked Constance. "We are aiming to get inside before it gets too crowded."

"I'd love to," said Monica, "but I have a group project to work on tonight. Maybe we could do it next Monday evening? I'll come to pick you up if you'd like."

Constance raised Monica's right hand with her left to signal her agreement. "Very well...you have yourself a deal. Come, Mercedes! Let us sally forth! The sauna awaits!"

"Why don't you go on ahead, Constance?" asked Mercedes as she waved and pointed forward. "I promise I'll only be a moment."

Monica watched as Constance walked toward the stairs with a bit more vigor than before, humming a happy tune to herself. She wanted to attribute it to the allure of the sauna, but when Constance slowed down to look at the door leading to her bedroom, she was sure that something else was at play.

Mercedes tugged lightly on Monica's right sleeve, prompting Monica to turn back in the direction she was initially heading. "Hmm? What's up?"

"I was just observing how well you two seem to be getting along," said Mercedes.

"Yeah… I just wish we were in the same year so that we could spend more time together," said Monica.

"I see… Do you really like Constance that much?"

Monica quickly gave Mercedes an affirmative nod, the only answer she thought was appropriate. She knew that any hesitation or overly-detailed response would make her look like a liar, especially after Edelgard, Dorothea, Ingrid, Caspar, Leonie, and now Mercedes, had already seen the two of them chatting and flirting.

"You seem pretty confident about that," said Mercedes. "I don't know for sure if Constance would want to go back to the academy or how things would work out between you two if you did. Don't you think it's better to be thankful that you and Constance met now, rather than wondering what could have been?"

Monica wanted to believe that she would still be able to befriend Constance if they had enrolled at the Officers Academy at the same time. All other things being the same, at least she would have someone to express concern over her sudden disappearance. Whether or not their hypothetical relationship would progress beyond that stage was unclear.

There were a few other things Monica wished she had done differently, such as making a better effort to make friends the last time she was at the academy, or taking an alternate route home to avoid the mountains, or staying at Garreg Mach instead of traveling home. She didn't know if any of those would lead to a better outcome for her in the long run. Was avoiding painful scarring a fair trade-off for missing the chance to meet the princess of the Empire and a handful of other future leaders?

After thinking about it for a moment, Monica decided that it wasn't worth it. What was done was done, and she didn't want to waste any more time thinking about changing her past.

Mercedes spotted Constance at the top of the stairs and looked ready to follow her into the sauna. "I should probably get going," she said. "Good luck, Monica. I hope you'll take some time to think about what I said."

"Don't worry, Mercedes...I will."


	19. Handle with Care

After her short pep talk with Mercedes, Monica searched the first-floor dorms for the door with Bernadetta's nameplate on it. It took a few moments for Bernadetta to answer the door after Monica knocked on it. Monica heard the sound of a desk drawer opening and closing, but because the bedroom door was firmly locked, she had to use her imagination regarding what was happening on the other side.

"Who's out there?" asked Bernadetta.

Monica calmly identified herself, wondering why Bernadetta still sounded so jumpy even from the safety of her own room.

Slowly, the door opened, with Monica just able to make out one of Bernadetta's eyes and a tuft of unkempt purple hair in the gap. "Is Linhardt out there with you?"

Monica looked around and saw several students wandering around the field, none of whom looked like they could fall asleep at a moment's notice. "Not yet," she said.

"Good."

"'Good'? But the three of us agreed to get together to do the Crest Stone clean-up."

"I know, but I'm busy working on something, and I don't want him to see it until it's done." Bernadetta murmured something to herself in the unlikely event of anyone other than Monica listening in on her. Curious, Monica leaned in and waited for Bernadetta to repeat what she just said.

"Linhardt's birthday's coming up in a few days, you know."

"Oh, really?" Monica turned away from the door, hoping Bernadetta wouldn't see her smirking. It sounded like Bernadetta was making or planning to buy something extra-special for Linhardt's birthday and wanted to keep it a secret from everyone, including her. "Where'd you hear this?" she asked, making a mental note to learn the rest of her housemates' birthdays.

"I overheard Caspar talking about it," said Bernadetta.

"Maybe I'll make him something, too. Do you know what kind of food he likes?"

"There's never a bad time to eat ice cream, I say."

The answer came not from Bernadetta, but from Linhardt, who walked behind Monica to hand her two pairs of white rubber gloves. Monica didn't want to ask how much of her conversation he'd heard. She figured it was his own fault if he wanted to spoil himself over Bernadetta's surprise for him. When Bernadetta heard Linhardt's voice, she ducked back into her room for a moment to retrieve three small red pouches to show to her group.

"These are pretty cute, Bernadetta," said Monica as she handed over one of her sets of gloves in exchange for one of Bernadetta's pouches. "The little black eagle patch is a nice touch. Did you make these yourself?"

"Yeah! Do you like them? I spent all day yesterday working on them."

When Bernadetta saw Monica and Linhardt's carefully styled hairdos, she dashed to her mirror to brush her hair with her hands to undo some of the scruffiness.

"Your hair's just fine," said Linhardt.

Bernadetta kept brushing until she got most of the hair out of her eyes, only coming back out when she had both her hair and her uniform in place. "A-are you sure?"

"Yes. Let's get started on this project while there's still enough light for us to see where we're going."

Monica readied her gloves and waited for Bernadetta and Linhardt to do the same before walking to the front gate. There was little time for her to join Ignatz and Flayn in the dining hall, so she bought a banana and a few chocolate bars from the food market so that she would at least have something to eat while she was out. Linhardt and Bernadetta bought a couple of small snacks to carry in their bags, planning on taking them out when they started collecting stones to avoid possible food contamination.

"Uh, Monica…why do you have your sword with you?" asked Bernadetta.

"Well, we _are_ stepping outside the monastery," Monica explained, "and the Professor isn't going to be there to help us all the time. I'm not very good with magic, so I'll feel safer with this by my side even if it is a little conspicuous…"

"Should I go back to my room and get my bow?"

"Bows and arrows might be a bit much for what we're doing. I think you'll be okay with just a lance or a club."

"I don't think I'll ever feel comfortable holding a weapon in my hands," said Linhardt. "I'll defend myself if I must, but only with magic that causes as little bleeding as possible."

Bernadetta didn't want to be left defenseless in the event of a surprise attack, so she bought a simple lance from the armory. Even if they didn't run into any enemies on their journey, she thought it would still make a decent walking stick.

They set off toward the west side of town, where most of the smaller wolves were first sighted. Shattered windows and dented doors were commonplace, and claw marks were haphazardly drawn across the dirt where most gardens used to be. Only a few people felt safe enough to open their doors, and most were only doing so to repair what they lost in the attack.

Monica and her friends searched the area for any unusually shaped or colored stones. There wasn't much for them to put in their bags, as they believed that the Knights of Seiros would have picked up anything that was lying in the open during their first and second patrols. They thought some stray stones may have disappeared into the grass, but they wouldn't be allowed to search without permission from the owners.

Monica walked toward the door of a house with its outer walls painted white. Aside from a few gaps in the wooden fencing, it looked like it was still in good shape.

"What do you want?" a voice asked after Monica knocked on the door.

"Hi! Um…may we speak with the owner of this house, please?" she asked back.

There was a short pause, followed by the same voice calling from the left side window. It sounded like a teenage girl, but it was hard to see who was addressing them with the curtain in the way. "Who wants to know?"

"We're from the Officers Academy, and we're helping with the investigation into the monster attack from a few weeks ago."

"Wait right there."

A moment later, a brown-haired man in loose-fitting slacks and a plaid, paint-stained shirt answered the door. "So, the archbishop is sending kids to do her work for her, huh?" he said. "What, are the knights taking a vacation or something?"

The man looked at the student trio with disapproval. The young girl who answered the door – his daughter, from the look of it – looked out the side window again, this time revealing her face and also looking at them with suspicion.

_Looks like we're already off to a bad start,_ Monica thought. _Maybe we should have started with a different house._

She took a deep breath and tried to ignore the man's insult so she could get some information out of him. "Sir," she said, "we'd like to solve this incident as quickly as possible so that we can stop attacks like that from happening in the future. If you can provide any information for us, such as whether you saw where the monsters were coming from, or if they left anything weird behind – rocks, stones, crystals, or whatever – it would be greatly appreciated."

"You're going _rock hunting?!_" the man said with a laugh. "I was hoping that you academy nobles had better things to do than to dig around in the dirt, but I guess I was wrong."

"We may not be dealing with any ordinary monsters here," said Linhardt. "A large wolf with unusual crystals protruding from its body was spotted on the edge of town, and we think that the other monsters accompanying it may have been powered by a similar source."

"What makes you think you'll find anything here? I sure wasn't going out there with all the screaming and howling. If you want to go scrounging around here for weird rocks and wolf carcasses, then be my guest. Just don't touch anything on my lawn."

The man's daughter left the window and approached the door again, with him holding his left arm against the door frame to block her from stepping outside. "Dad… Wasn't there some other kid wandering around here earlier, looking for the same thing?" she asked.

"Yeah. A little guy, maybe a few inches shorter than you. He was with a pair of monks, I think. Judging by how eager he was to pick the trash up and how closely they were following him, it looks like they think he might have something to do with it."

"Do you know which way they went?" asked Bernadetta.

"To the south side," said the daughter. "One of the monks said that's where most of the action was. If you want to catch them, you'd better move quickly."

"We'll get right on it," said Monica. "Thank you for your time."

"Yeah, yeah," said the father with a dismissive wave of his hand.

Monica and her friends looked at each other, feeling disappointed as the man shut the door behind him. "Maybe we should just move on," she said.

"It's probably for the best," said Bernadetta.

The trio headed southward, filling their bags little by little with any possible Crest Stones but staying away from the grass to avoid upsetting any more townspeople.

"Linhardt…" Monica called as they stopped at a fountain marking an intersection to eat some of their snacks. "Are you sure Professor Hanneman can find evidence of Crests in non-organic objects? I thought his machine only worked on people."

Before she helped foil the monster attack, the last time Monica thought seriously about Crests was a few days after her initiation, when Hanneman called her into his office to determine whether or not she had a Crest in her blood. It didn't surprise her when she tested negative – neither of her parents talked about Crests very often, so she assumed they didn't find them as important as most other noble families did.

"It has to be possible," said Linhardt. "Considering how much of his time he says he's spent researching Crests, I'd be surprised if his machine _didn't_ have a setting for it."

Although they were unable to get permission from one of the townspeople to search around his house, it turned out that the team's visit wasn't a total waste. Over in a grassy field near the southwest corner of town, they noticed a dark-skinned teenage boy picking through the grass with gloved fingers. A short-haired, white-robed monk stood a few feet away from the boy and watched him closely, while a slightly shorter monk with curly black hair watched the other townspeople go about their business. "Are you the students from the Black Eagle house here to help with the investigation?" she asked.

"Yes, we are," said Monica. "I'm Monica, and this is Linhardt and Bernadetta."

"If it's Crest Stones you're after, then we already have this area covered," said the first monk.

"Good, because we'd like to know if—"

The boy stood up and turned around to greet the new arrivals. "It's okay," he said. "I can take care of it."

"Wait a minute…you're making _him_ do all of the clean-up work between you?"

"They're not making me," he insisted. "I asked to help. I'm used to doing stuff like this."

"Cyril here wants to help Lady Rhea as much as he can," said the second monk. "We tried to warn him of the potential dangers of these stones. We eventually agreed to let him help as long as he wore proper protective equipment."

Monica still didn't agree with the monks putting someone as young as Cyril at risk, but she admired his determination. "Um… Hi, Cyril… May we take a look at that stone you just picked up?" she asked.

"Only for a moment," said Cyril. "I gotta take these over to Lady Rhea as soon as possible."

Cyril opened his bag to show them the stones he picked up, holding onto it tightly to prevent it from being stolen. Hidden underneath a pile of ordinary rocks and pebbles, Monica saw a fractured, purple-tinted, pointy-edged rock that was twice as big as the others. It reminded her of one of the stones she saw on the giant wolf, but she didn't know for sure because it didn't have the same glow. She, Linhardt, and Bernadetta were unable to find a stone that big in their own bags. A few of their stones had the same tint or similar rough shape and texture, but not both.

"Whoa! Where did you find that one?" asked Bernadetta.

"It was sitting a few feet away from the main gate," said Cyril.

"That's where we fought that big, creepy wolf thing!"

"It must have been sitting out there for a while because I don't think the knights spotted it when they were dealing with the monster corpse. I think this piece I found might have fallen off while you guys were fighting it."

"Then that means we've lost a good deal of research material," Linhardt lamented. "We'll just have to work with what we've gathered."

"Do you think we have enough?" asked Monica, looking at her stash a second time.

Bernadetta looked inside her stone-filled bag, and then at the sky. "Even if we don't, I don't think we need to be out here much longer. It's getting late, and I need to get back to my room to, uh…study!"

"Is that_ all_ you'll be doing, Bernie?"

"Okay, maybe not _just_ to study," said Bernadetta as she took a bite out of one of her chocolate bars. "A girl's gotta take time to relax, too, you know!"

Cyril and the two monks talked to each other for a few moments, with one of them pointing out how the sun was setting.

"I should probably get going myself," Cyril said to the three students. "There's still lots of work to be done. Maybe we'll run into each other again sometime."

"See you later, Cyril," said Monica. "Try not to tire yourself out, okay?"

Cyril's group took the quickest route possible back to the cathedral, and Monica's group waited for a moment to survey the area for any enemies that might have snuck in while they were talking. A sudden cold, southerly wind made the girls reach for their weapons. The bushes dotting the field didn't make any unusual movements. Still, they didn't want to be responsible for allowing any intruders to find their way into town where the patrols were lighter.

On their way back to the market square, they asked a few of the knights to double-check the area where they met Cyril. Linhardt, who had willed himself awake with the promise of finding Crest Stones, looked ready to fall asleep by the time they reached the gate dividing the town and the monastery. "I don't know about you ladies," he said, "but all that walking has tired me out. I think I'm going to turn in for the evening."

Monica couldn't resist yawning herself – she had spent most of the day on her feet and wanted to rest as much as Linhardt did. As much as she wanted to get her job done quickly, her desire to get a fresh start the next day was stronger. "That's actually a pretty good idea," she said. "Do you think we'll have enough time to give these to Professor Hanneman before class tomorrow morning?"

"I'm not what you would call an 'early bird'," said Linhardt, "but I'll make an exception this time, if only to help speed our investigation along."

"Bernadetta? What do you want to do?"

"I might as well come along with you guys," said Bernadetta. "I don't understand Crests as well as Linhardt or Professor Hanneman – other than having one myself – and I'd really rather be in my room, but I don't want to be left in the dark about this."

"Great! Let's meet up by the bridge to the cathedral. We should definitely keep our bags locked up until we're ready to hand them over. I know most of these are probably ordinary rocks, but I don't want to take the chance on any of them getting stolen."

Bernadetta patted her uniform to make sure she still had her room key safely tucked away in her pocket. "That shouldn't be a problem for me. I always keep my room securely locked."

"All right, then. Good night, everyone! Thanks for your help!"

After the team split up to put their bags away, Monica went to her room and stashed hers underneath her bed where she could easily reach it. She took a few moments to study her notes from class, grateful that Byleth hadn't given her any homework. She also wanted to write a letter to her father explaining how well her first month back at school was going, but drowsiness took over and she wound up stopping halfway.

When Monica fell asleep, she tried to remember the last time she felt so tired. Her body was at rest, but in her mind, she was still running – running because her life depended on it.


	20. Interlude: Until You See Daylight

Monica only looked back for a moment to see the monster stalking her. It was an unnaturally large creature, with smooth, dark blue skin, jagged teeth, and no eyes – at least none where a normal human's eyes would normally go. She had never seen anything like it before or during her imprisonment. It didn't look like it was native to the caves, either. Her only guess was that her kidnappers hid it there as a safeguard against intruders – or in her case, escapists. There was no way she would stand a chance against the thing by herself even with a weapon, so she had no choice but to run.

Fortunately for Monica, it didn't look like the creature could see where it was going. That should have made it easy for her to lose it in the vast, sprawling network of tunnels she found herself in.

She could still hear the monster's footsteps getting closer as she rounded corner after corner.

_How in the Goddess' name is that thing still chasing me?_ _Can it hear my footsteps? Did it catch my scent?_

Monica could barely hear herself think over the sounds of her own footsteps and her heavy breathing.

_I need to keep moving. I need to find a way out of here. If I slow down, that monster will get me. If I go back, then I'll have to deal with _her _again… Either way, if I give up, I'm as good as dead._

Her clothes were too short and ragged to adequately conceal her wounds. She used what little loose clothing she had to soak up some of the blood from her left leg to try to keep the monster off her trail.

After what felt like an hour, maybe more – it was difficult to tell without being able to see the sun or moon – the only footsteps Monica heard were her own. It would have been a perfect moment for her to celebrate, except she was still trapped. As far as she was concerned, the only safe space was on the surface, and she had no idea how to get there.

After stopping to catch her breath, she pressed onward, hoping that neither the monster nor Kronya knew more about the caves than she did. However, her own fatigue turned out to be a greater adversary than the dumb, blind, four-legged demonic beast, or the pale-skinned psychopath with the magic knife.

Her legs felt like they were burning. Her stride had gone from a light, energy-saving jog to a lumbering, exhausted crawl within minutes. Eventually, her arms couldn't prop her up any longer, and she collapsed onto the rocky cavern floor, panting and heaving and struggling to pick herself up again.

_Come on! Why did this have to happen now?_

Though her strength had been depleted and she could barely see in front of her, Monica rolled over on her side to give herself room to breathe. Most importantly, she wanted to keep an ear to the ground to listen for anyone approaching her location.

To her dismay, she heard footsteps – two sets of steps getting louder by the second.

_Oh, no… Nononononononononono…_

What she heard next chilled her to the core and defeated any hope of her escaping the cave safely.

**_"You do not belong here."_**


	21. Blood from a Stone, and Vice Versa

_Not again,_ Monica thought as she woke up to pitch darkness. The heavy rain outside made it harder for her to try to get back to sleep. Covering her ears with her pillow didn't help. Resting with her head on the mattress only reminded her more of the caves, and how glad she was to be far away from them.

That voice she heard at the end of her last dream still frightened her. She wanted to know who it belonged to and what they wanted with her – and why they decided not to kill her when she was at her most vulnerable.

Those questions still lingered as the sun rose, its soothing light obscured by rain clouds. Monica regretted not thinking ahead and buying an umbrella along with her snacks, especially when she saw several other students walking about with umbrellas. To minimize her chances of getting soaked, she followed Constance's example and walked underneath the awnings on her way to meet her friends and inform them that their trip to meet Hanneman would have to wait until after class.

When Monica visited Linhardt's room, it took her several tries to get a response out of him. "This rain is definitely a mood-killer," he said. "If the skies were clearer, I'd be slightly more motivated to go with you right now."

"If only the professors' offices were closer so I wouldn't have to deal with this… You wouldn't happen to have an umbrella in there, would you, Linhardt?" she asked.

"Sorry, Monica, but I don't."

As the rain surged, Monica sidestepped a sudden downpour of water from above, putting her only a few inches away from getting hit in the face when Linhardt opened the door. She didn't know which outcome would have been more embarrassing. "I know we can't hold this off all day, so I'm going to go to Professor Hanneman's office even if it's still raining heavily this afternoon. Do you still want to come with me?"

"I suppose I'll go… Any step taken toward a greater understanding of Crests is a worthy endeavor, in my opinion."

Linhardt went off to the dining hall for breakfast, not appearing to be as bothered by the heavy rain as Monica. While he went on ahead, she went to visit Bernadetta, who was much easier to talk to despite her reluctance to open her door.

"Wait a minute… Monica?!" Bernadetta shrieked. "You're not still thinking of crossing that bridge in all this rain, are you? Please don't take me with you!"

"Of course not!" Monica replied, shaking her head as if Bernadetta could see her on the other side. "I just came here to let you know that we'll be doing all that _after_ class."

Bernadetta cracked her door open and gave her collection pouch to Monica. "In that case, will you turn my stones in for me? Please?"

"Hold on… Didn't you say you wanted to figure out the purpose of these stones just as much as we did?"

"I did, but that was before I knew this storm was coming! Besides, I need a little more time to work on Linhardt's gift, so you two can go on ahead without me and give me the finer details later."

"Okay, then…" Monica took the stone-filled pouch and held it tightly against her chest. Although she didn't believe anything would happen to the stones if they got wet, she didn't want to risk losing them at any cost. "Do you want to meet in the classroom building?"

"Yeah, sure," said Bernadetta. "If I'm not there when you guys get back, you should know where to find me."

"How about breakfast? Would you like to get something to eat? I know you must be hungry…"

"I-I'll get something later. Promise!"

With Bernadetta's collection pouch in hand, Monica went back to her room to hide it under her bed next to the stones she collected. She didn't care whether or not they were labeled. It didn't matter who collected more stones as long as Hanneman got a chance to analyze them.

After testing the locks on her doors again to ensure that the pouches were secured, Monica took a deep breath and braced herself to go out into the rain whether she liked it or not. The paved sidewalks were just as slippery as the wet grass, and she came within a hair's breadth of taking a nasty tumble in her bid to seek shelter in the dining hall.

The breakfast line was long enough that it gave Monica a few moments to dry off. The growing puddle under her feet drew concerned looks from some of the other students, including Dorothea, who had a plate of food in one hand, a blue umbrella in the other, and barely a drop of water on her. "Monica!" she gasped. "Are you alright?"

"I don't think I prepared well enough for this," said Monica, quickly realizing that she was splashing droplets of water on Dorothea and one of the students waiting in line behind her as she shook her head. "I guess I should have expected some rain eventually, but nothing _this_ heavy. Speaking of the rain…where'd you get that umbrella, Dorothea? I really like the color."

"Thank you! It's not mine, though. Ingrid let me borrow it, and I'm just about to give it back to her."

"Where is she? I haven't seen her in a while."

Dorothea pointed to a table on the far side of the hall where Ingrid and Felix were sitting. Ingrid rubbed her hands in anticipation before taking a bite out of the sausage on her plate. Felix looked to his right and saw how quickly his companion was eating her breakfast, but he was in no hurry to attempt to one-up her. "Slow down, Ingrid," he said. "That sausage isn't going to leap off your plate if you don't eat it."

"I know that," Ingrid replied after wiping her mouth with her napkin, "but you know just as well as I do that meat is much better when it's nice and hot."

Felix could still see the steam rising from his own breakfast. He cut off one end of one of the sausages with his fork and took a bite, sighing contentedly. "You're right," he said. "It _is_ tasty."

They were soon joined by Monica and Dorothea, who sat opposite Ingrid and Felix, respectively. Dorothea was the odd one out at the breakfast table as she was the only one with a bowl of fruit instead of the sausages, bacon, and eggs the others were eating. "Fancy seeing you here, Ingrid," she said.

"It seems you're pretty popular this morning," said Monica, forcing a laugh to try to distract herself from her dampened clothes.

"I'm not interested in popularity right now," said Ingrid. "I'm just here for breakfast. Once I'm done here, I'm going to head to the knights' hall to train some more before class, since going to the arena's out of the question."

"It's too bad they've got the place closed off," said Felix. "The open air is nice, and I don't have to worry about having enough room to swing my sword without breaking things."

Dorothea sat her fork down next to her bowl after eating a green grape from it, and then passed Ingrid her umbrella, keeping it below the table to prevent everyone from getting wet. "That reminds me…thanks for letting me borrow your umbrella."

"I appreciate you asking politely instead of barging in while my door was open like last time," said Ingrid.

"I couldn't help myself. When I saw your door open, I thought you were inviting me in. I kept my promise not to touch anything without your permission, didn't I?"

Ingrid raised an eyebrow, too focused on her breakfast to address Dorothea's intrusion any further.

A fifth student joined their table a minute later – Sylvain, sporting a grin wide enough to fit his whole spoon. "Well, if it isn't my lucky day," he said. "What are the chances of me getting to share a meal with _three_ lovely ladies at once?"

"Must your every conversation with a woman lead to a come-on of some sort?" asked Felix.

"Come on, Felix…you know I don't do that _all_ the time. It was more of a statement of the obvious than anything, really."

Dorothea and Ingrid rolled their eyes. Neither girl was in the mood to deal with Sylvain's antics so early in the morning.

"You'll have to forgive Sylvain, Monica," said Ingrid. "He really means well, but he can't seem to kick this habit of hitting on every new girl he meets. And if he _keeps_ doing it, then—"

Sylvain's tone shifted from flirty to conciliatory the instant Ingrid looked at him. "Okay, okay, I get the picture. Geez…it's barbs and threats like that which make me glad I learned to walk around in heavy armor."

He couldn't decide which seat at the table was the safest for him to sit in, so he pulled an unused chair over to the end of the table where Monica and Felix were seated. "So…Monica, was it?" he said after everyone else stopped staring at him. "How's life at Garreg Mach been treating you?"

Monica, unaware of Sylvain's reputation, tried her best to respond in a way that both asserted her confidence and kept her on the defensive. "It's been quite an adventure so far," she said, "but nothing I can't handle."

"'Adventure' is definitely the operative word," said Sylvain. "I never figured that a _church_, of all places, would be where we'd learn to become soldiers."

"One thing's for sure – there's a lot that I've experienced here that I would never have learned if I'd stuck with private tutoring. Whether or not that's a _good_ thing, I'll probably never know."

Everyone except for Felix exchanged small talk as they ate, ignoring the students coming and going from the dining hall. After they were all finished, Monica and Dorothea went directly to their classroom and waited for their other classmates and Byleth to arrive. They wanted the rain to taper off or go away as quickly as possible so they could finish their days with minimal hassle.

The next class came and went without incident. Monica paid attention and took her notes as usual, but the combination of the stormy weather and the anxiety over her nightmare kept her from enjoying it to the fullest. She was relieved when it was time to go and she could visit Hanneman's office over at the cathedral.

The rain slowed down just enough in the afternoon that Monica felt comfortable walking through it without getting too wet. With her and Bernadetta's pouches carefully tucked underneath her, Monica hurried toward Hanneman's office, which was just across the hall from the infirmary. To her surprise, Linhardt had arrived ahead of her, for he had decided to rest in the common room behind Manuela and Byleth's offices to dry off. A quick brush of his hair made some of its wetness go away. "Where's Bernadetta?" he asked. "Did she change her mind about coming with us?"

"Bernadetta said she was worried about the weather," said Monica half-truthfully, "so she gave me her bag of stones. Do you have yours?"

Linhardt tossed his bag a few inches into the air to show that he came prepared.

"All right…let's get this over with."

Linhardt knocked on Hanneman's door and waited a few seconds for him to open it. The professor's smile was barely visible under his bushy gray mustache. "Good afternoon, Linhardt and Monica!" he said. "What brings you here today?"

"Professor Hanneman, do you have time to analyze some samples we picked up?" asked Linhardt. He and Monica placed their collection pouches on Hanneman's desk next to a small machine with knobs whose functions only Hanneman seemed to know. Monica pushed one of her pouches away from the machine, leaving behind a short trail of water that she scrambled to wipe away with her sleeve.

"Samples?" asked Hanneman, looking inside one of the pouches. "Do you mean these pebbles here?"

"Linhardt and I think there might be more to some of these pebbles than they appear," said Monica. "We think some of the monsters we fought a few weeks ago might have left some Crest Stones behind when they attacked."

"A highly unusual situation, indeed. Perhaps if we studied some of these stones, we might find some clues about their origins. This may take a while, so if you feel you may find this boring, I encourage you to read any of the books on the shelves to your left. However, I must ask you not to disturb the gold-colored folders. Those are very important teacher's notes."

Monica and Linhardt watched as Hanneman pressed some buttons and turned one of the dials on the machine on his desk, revealing a hidden compartment with an off-white panel that Monica recognized as a handprint reader. Hanneman, knowing that Linhardt possessed a Minor Crest of Saint Cethleann, asked him to place his hand on the reader to establish a baseline for his analysis. Right after Linhardt put his hand down, Monica saw a strange symbol floating above a panel in front of her feet. The Crest sigil lingered for several seconds after Linhardt lifted his hand, and Monica wanted to poke at it to test its solidity.

For the next several minutes, Hanneman placed different combinations of pebbles on the reader to gauge their reactions. First, he placed one stone at a time on the center of the reader where all of the lines seemed to converge and then scribbled in one of his notebooks when he saw ones that caused a reaction on the floor device, hoping to find a pattern among them. After separating the non-magical pebbles from the ones that displayed lines on the floor reader, he tried placing two stones on his desk reader at a time, then three, then four. Ghostly lines of light danced in the air as Hanneman moved the stones around in an effort to get a more complete picture from their findings. "Now, if I move this here," he murmured, "and place this one a little further downward…"

From Monica's perspective, the lines appeared to form a half-heart that partially resembled the Crest that appeared when Linhardt tested the handprint reader. She continued to stare at the floating symbol with her mouth agape, trying to decipher what it all meant. Linhardt and Hanneman both reacted to the Crest's reappearance with a brief moment of wide-eyed shock.

"Where did these things come from?" shouted Monica. "Why did it take so many to form just one symbol?"

"The Crest itself appears to be incomplete," said Hanneman. "It seems that these stones may just be fragments of a larger stone. In the same way, your discovery of these fragments is a small but not insignificant part of the mystery, which I hope will lead us closer to figuring out who attacked us and why. Would it be all right with you if I held onto these a little longer? Perhaps with further analysis, I might be able to discern how these Crest Stone pieces were created."

"As long as we get to keep the bags they were stored in. Bernadetta worked so hard on them."

"Yes, of course." Hanneman passed the Black Eagle pouches back to Monica and Linhardt and then continued to scribble in his notebook for a minute before shutting off his machine and pushing the Crest Stone fragments aside. "Lady Rhea and Seteth will certainly want to know about this," he added. "Would one of you have a moment to track one of them down for me?"

"I don't think I've seen Lady Rhea leave that audience chamber very often," said Monica. "We might have to look around a bit for Seteth, though. I can go look for him if you'd like."

"Before you go back down, Monica," said Linhardt, "we still need to find out about the stone that Cyril picked up. I suspect it may have come from the same source as these smaller ones."

"That may be more difficult than you might expect," said Hanneman. "Cyril only answers directly to Lady Rhea. He may have already given his stone to her."

Monica got upset as she realized there wouldn't be an easy way to convince Rhea to let Hanneman borrow Cyril's stones for analysis. _If only we'd reached that garden first… We might have a more complete picture regarding who or what we're dealing with._

When she felt that she had received enough information to relay to Bernadetta, Monica prepared to leave in order to search for her and Seteth, despite the rain. "Thanks for your help, Professor Hanneman," she said. "If you find out anything new, will you let us know?"

"It would be my pleasure," said Hanneman.

* * *

Monica started having second thoughts about the rain. It didn't seem so bad once she got used to walking in it for a while. The most annoying aspect was having to walk around all the puddles that formed when the rain stopped to avoid getting her shoes wet.

Flayn stood next to the crates at the edge of the dorms, rushing out to meet her rain-soaked friend. Monica asked Flayn to stand back a few feet to avoid getting splashed while she tried desperately to air-dry her clothes.

"What happened, Monica?" asked Flayn. "How did you get so wet so quickly?"

"I had to go out to work on an urgent class project," said Monica.

"Could it not have waited until the rain had passed? You are soaked from head to toe!"

"I know… Give me a few minutes, okay, Flayn? I'll be right back."

Monica shut and locked her bedroom door behind her while she changed out of her wet clothes and tossed it into the laundry basket by her bed. Her alternate uniform was a simple black blouse and skirt with white trim that lacked the flair of what she was already wearing, but she thought it was good enough to wear until the clothes in the basket dried out.

"Okay, I'm ready!" she called as she unlocked the door.

Stepping outside with a little more confidence than before, Monica turned her attention back to Flayn. "So, what have you been up to lately? Heard any interesting stories?"

"Stories? Do you mean gossip?" asked Flayn. "I have not heard anything of the sort. I do love a good story every now and then, but I would not wish to harm anyone's reputation by spreading incorrect or unprovable rumors."

"Have you had a chance to talk to a lot of the students since you came back? Not that I'm suggesting that you should do that to squeeze any juicy gossip from them or anything," said Monica.

"I do see Ignatz and Marianne every now and then, but they usually come to pray or examine the portraits and statues, and do not spend much time on small talk."

"Oh… I just thought you might enjoy the company when you weren't busy doing important church things. Speaking of meetings – do you know where your brother is? Professor Hanneman was looking for him."

"We had just returned from the market to get some fresh ingredients for the kitchen. If he is not there, then he is probably heading toward his office."

"Then that should make it easy for us to track him down. We'll need to be quick about it, though. I have to meet up with Bernadetta in a few minutes. Come on!"

Together, Monica and Flayn walked to the bridge to intercept Seteth on his way back to the cathedral, but they fell a few steps behind and had to call out to him before he walked through the iron gate. "May I help you two with something?" he asked when they caught up to him.

"Yeah… I just got done speaking with Professor Hanneman," said Monica, "and he said he wanted to talk to you for a few moments."

"I think I may have an idea what this is about," said Seteth. "Thank you for alerting me, Monica."

Flayn reached out to try to stop him from going upstairs. "Hold on, Brother! Where exactly are you going?"

"I am on my way to an important discussion between Professor Hanneman and I. You need not concern yourself with it, Flayn."

Monica was surprised when she saw Flayn glare sternly at Seteth. She was used to seeing that look _from_ Seteth and others with his level of influence, but she never expected to see it directed _at_ him, and especially not from Flayn, whom she had known up until that point to be the living definition of politeness and grace. "'I need not concern myself with it'? Brother, I have spent much of my time at the monastery within its walls, both before and after my abduction," said Flayn, raising her voice just enough to sound assertive but not confrontational. "I understand that the world outside is dangerous, but would it not be more appropriate for me to learn of these dangers myself, rather than indirectly from others?"

"Flayn, we have already discussed this..."

Monica believed she had fulfilled her duty to Hanneman, so she excused herself when it sounded like an argument was going to break out between the two.

* * *

Bernadetta arrived at the Black Eagles' classroom as promised, having taken a seat in the corner of the room farthest from the door. There were a few other students in the room, but the only ones she needed to speak with arrived a few minutes after her, sitting down at a nearby table.

"Oh…hey, guys," she said, her voice less shaky than before. "Did you get any new information for us?"

"Yeah," said Monica. "Out of all the rocks and pebbles that we picked up last night, it looks like we managed to find pieces of a Crest Stone or two. But that's not all…"

"You were right, Linhardt! I knew there was something weird about those monsters! Now that they know we're here, they can attack us any time they want!"

Linhardt looked over his shoulder and saw the remaining students run out of the classroom after Bernadetta spoke. He couldn't tell if they were running away because they were spooked by Bernadetta's statement, or because they saw Byleth entering the room behind them and wanted to avoid punishment for eavesdropping.

"Hey, Professor!" said Bernadetta. "Did you forget something?"

"I just stopped by to see how you all were coming along with the mission," said Byleth.

"We discovered some Crest Stones while we searched the town last night," said Linhardt. "Actually, that isn't quite right…they were more like fragments of one."

Byleth looked down at the Sword of the Creator and stared through the large circular hole in its hilt. For a moment, she worried that the Crest Stone in question was tied to the Crest of Flames, for it had not been publicly discovered by the time she recovered the sword from the Western Church rebels. Trying to figure out why only she was able to use the sword despite it not carrying its expected Crest Stone made both her head and her heart hurt.

"Are you okay, Professor?" asked Monica. "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," said Byleth. "Please continue. You said you picked up some Crest Stone fragments, correct?"

"Yeah, but I don't remember seeing them when the monsters attacked," said Bernadetta, "except for the ones on the really big one. Maybe we were too busy fighting to notice. You don't suppose we might have stepped on one and broken it by accident, do you?"

"I'm not sure. When Dimitri's house came back from Conand Tower, I got a glimpse of Sylvain's Lance of Ruin. The stone in the spearhead looks pretty sturdy…almost as strong as the lance itself. Maybe even more so."

When it sounded like Byleth had dismissed her idea, Bernadetta shook her head and pounded her fists on her thighs in frustration. "Stupid Bernie! Why'd you say that? You knew that didn't make any sense in your head!"

"I wouldn't discount that idea so readily, Bernadetta," said Linhardt. "The Crest Stone pieces we found didn't look like they came from a Hero's Relic, so it's possible that these ones aren't as sturdy."

"Do you suppose they fell off when I cut the giant wolf in the face with my sword?" Byleth suggested.

"If that's the case, then they must have flown pretty far," said Monica. "Then again, it _was_ a really big wolf, so who knows where else they might have landed?"

Linhardt felt himself slouching, so he tried to press his back against the back of his chair to force himself to sit upright. "Something else about this incident bothers me," he said.

"Are you talking about that symbol we saw in Professor Hanneman's office?"

"Exactly. It seems that our attackers have figured out a way to replicate – or fabricate, in this case – a genuine Crest Stone. The symbol we saw looked a lot like my Crest, but there's no way they could have acquired it from me. I've been here at the academy the whole time."

"Is there someone else around here with that same Crest?"

Linhardt paused to look around the room once more for eavesdroppers. "The only other person I know who carries the Crest of Cethleann…is Flayn."

Bernadetta and Monica were unable to conceal their astonishment when they considered Linhardt's explanation and how it connected to Flayn's kidnapping. Byleth's reaction was much more subdued, but her students noticed how worried she was about it.

"Flayn told me that she'd been having nightmares about being stabbed with needles and waking up dizzy after the Death Knight captured her," said Monica. "Were they really using Flayn and her blood for…_this?!_"

"It certainly seems that way," said Linhardt, sounding close to vomiting on the table.

"Oh, no…Flayn was on her way to Professor Hanneman's office with Seteth! How's she going to react when she finds out about this? If I had known that this was what was going on, I would have spoken up and told her not to go."

"I know the truth may sometimes be uncomfortable and you don't want to hurt Flayn's feelings because she's your friend," said Byleth, "but I think it would be better to let her and Seteth sort this out themselves."

Monica started thinking Flayn would eventually learn what her captors wanted from her, but it didn't make her feel any better about not saying anything even with the scant information she had obtained before speaking to Hanneman. All she could think of doing was hope that Edelgard and Ferdinand's teams completed their parts of the mission while she prepared herself for the inevitable confrontation.


	22. A Flower That Wilts in Sunlight

On Wednesday and Thursday, Monica spent her time after class refining her sword technique once the training grounds had been deemed safe for use. Many students had waited for the arena to reopen, most of all Dimitri, Felix, and Ingrid, who were all due to travel to Ailell in a few days and wanted to practice as much as possible before heading out.

Felix kept his distance from Dimitri most of the time, only choosing to engage him when he was ready to duel. Even though they were only using wooden swords, they fought with the intensity of a real duel. Dimitri aimed most of his strikes with the intent to disarm Felix, while Felix was focused on trying to get a clean hit on Dimitri. There were several close calls between the two Blue Lions, with Dimitri striking Felix on his right wrist and Felix hitting Dimitri with a slash across the chest that caused him to stumble, but the decisive blow came when Dimitri caught another attack from Felix and pushed back against his sword hard enough to knock it out of his hand and send it skidding along the ground. "Looks like I win this time, Felix," said Dimitri.

"Hmph."

Felix picked up his dropped sword and tossed it into a trash bucket by the entrance. The jagged crack near the tip of the blade rendered it useless as a weapon, so he drew a fresh pair of swords from the bucket next to the box and lobbed one in Monica's direction. "Your turn, Monica," he said. "Let's see what you're made of."

Monica reached out to catch the blade in midair between her hands, mindful that doing the same with a real sword would have sliced deep into her palm. After watching Felix fight Dimitri, she was confident that she would do better against him than she did in her first encounter.

Monica gripped the sword in her right hand and tried to bait Felix into attacking first. As soon as he saw her step forward, he took a defensive stance and beckoned for her to attack. She couldn't tell which direction he was going to block, so she feinted low and followed up with a sideways slash when she normally would have gone high.

"That one almost hit me," said Felix as he knocked her sword away.

Anticipating a counterattack, Monica stepped back and raised her sword to block a swing that almost hit her in the face. Felix's reflexes had improved since their first duel. She wouldn't be able to overpower him the same way Dimitri did, so she tried to use his own speed against him by dodging his attacks and forcing him to miss to give herself room to strike back. Felix sought to disrupt Monica's strategy by striking her legs, lunging and swinging just low enough to prevent her from blocking or jumping out of the way. Monica stood her ground and tried to block Felix's attacks, but his quick assault left few openings for her to exploit aside from a few hits to the midsection. When she attempted to hit him with an upward slice, Felix parried the attack and hit her before she could fully lift her sword. "I think that's enough for now."

"Come on," said Monica. "I can still go for another minute or—"

The soreness in her arms and legs became unbearable, and her practice sword slipped out of her fingers.

"Or I could go to Professor Manuela's office and get patched up," she admitted.

"You still have a ways to go before you can beat me," said Felix, "but you've got guts, I'll give you that. Try to keep them inside you."

"Huh?"

"I think what Felix is trying to say," said Dimitri, "is that you put up a good fight. It might be a good idea for all of us to call it a day before someone gets seriously hurt."

Felix turned his back to Dimitri again. "I think she got the picture. I don't need a translator."

Monica thought she was strong enough to walk out under her own power, but she chose to let Ingrid carry her to the gates of the cathedral so she wouldn't fall off the bridge. "What was up with Felix?" she asked. "He sounded mad at Dimitri."

"It's been like that ever since the school year started," said Ingrid. "You might not be able to tell from Felix's attitude, but he and Dimitri used to be really good friends until two years ago. Everything soured between them after they came home from a mission in western Faehrgus. Felix says he saw 'madness' in Dimitri's eyes that day, and now he tells anyone who'll listen that Dimitri's only pretending to be nice to hide the fact that he's really a bloodthirsty killer. Can you believe that?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't be able to tell you without being there myself."

"I know what you mean. For his part, His Highness admits that he went overboard when dealing with those rebels. Sometimes I wish I had been there to see what Felix claims to have caused Dimitri to snap the way he did."

"Would you try to rein him in?"

Ingrid sighed as she let go of Monica and helped her up the stairs to the infirmary. "Maybe. As the future king of Faehrgus, he gets put under a lot of pressure to act in a manner befitting of his station. He's also my friend, and I want what's best for him as much as I want what's best for my kingdom."

"I can only imagine the craziness that Edelgard used to have to deal with before coming to the academy," said Monica.

After two students left the infirmary wincing and puckering their lips, the first thing Monica did was sit in one of the chairs behind the bed to wait for Manuela to tend to her.

"Professor Manuela! Could you take a look at Monica for a moment?" asked Ingrid. "I think she might be hurt, and I don't know any healing magic."

"Thank you for bringing her to me, Ingrid," said Manuela. "Did you also take some time to complete the reading I assigned to you yesterday?"

"I did. I've almost finished my report, and I'll have it ready for tomorrow."

"Very good. I look forward to seeing you in class."

A moment after Ingrid left to return to her room, Manuela closed the door to give Monica some privacy while she guided her to the bed. "How are you feeling, dear?" she asked.

"Things got a little intense over at the training grounds," said Monica, "and now I'm really sore."

"Any bruises or cuts or anything?"

"I don't think so… No _new_ ones, anyway."

"May I take a look?"

Monica reluctantly lifted her right arm to show to Manuela, rolling up the sleeve to reveal some of the scars she received during her time in confinement. Even after she escaped, she still couldn't stand to look at them. "Don't get the wrong idea," she said. "I've had these for a while now."

Manuela looked at the scars from the stab wounds on Monica's left arm and tried not to recoil from shock. "I feel awful for you and Flayn. She said she had been stabbed a lot when she was captured, too. The funny thing is that when the nurses managed to talk Seteth into letting them examine her, they didn't find any physical evidence of scarring…especially not to the extent that I see in you."

"I remember Flayn telling me that it didn't take as long to recover from her injuries," said Monica, "but she still sounded quite shaken up."

"In my experience as a healer, I've found that it's much easier for me to treat physical wounds than psychological ones. Those can stick with you for a long time."

Manuela went to her medicine cabinet and poured out a tablespoon of a copper-colored liquid, which Monica tried to consume in one gulp. For all she knew, the vulnerary also tasted like copper going down. The students that came in before her must have been fed the same thing. "This should help with your soreness," said Manuela. "Take a rest for an hour or two and give that medicine some time to do its thing."

"Will do. Thanks, Professor Manuela," said Monica. "I'll see you later."

Monica no longer felt the need to cling to the walls to leave the cathedral and walk back to her room. She was glad to have given Felix a better fight than when she first returned to the academy, but she didn't feel ready for another rematch until she got better at fighting without her shield. Until then, she decided to take Manuela's advice and rest with a good book and a glass of apple juice.

* * *

Edelgard stood by the fountain at the town's main intersection, watching the water trickle from top to bottom and wondering how it could sustain itself without any additional input. Hubert, who had just finished scouting the area to make sure no knights were nearby, turned to her and huffed in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere, Lady Edelgard," he said. "We've visited almost a dozen houses in the past two hours, and we've yet to obtain any new or useful information on the assailants from last month. Might I propose a different approach?"

"I'm listening, Hubert," said Edelgard.

"So far, we've only spoken to people who were in town during the demonic beast attack. Most of them are either still repairing their property or mourning their dead. I believe it makes more sense to seek out those who were fighting on the front lines to give us a better chance to identify the attackers."

"That would obviously rule out any of the Black Eagles, because we all had to respond to the alarm bells that day, and our teacher was in a meeting with the professors in the monastery."

"Correct. You may recall that we were joined mid-battle by a young mage with a connection to one of our own."

"You're talking about Constance, right?"

Hubert nodded, and Edelgard wondered if he knew as much about Constance's "connection" to Monica as she did. "I, for one, want to know what she was doing before the attack," he said. "Considering how easily she found us, she must still be near."

"Let's wait until Dorothea returns before we continue," said Edelgard.

Dorothea walked in from the south, sitting down by the rim of the fountain. "Edie! Hubie! I'm back!"

"Have you heard or seen anything from Ferdinand's team?" asked Hubert.

"I saw Ferdie and the others heading west," said Dorothea. "It looked like they were heading toward a forest or something."

Hubert chuckled. "How interesting… Thank you for that information, Dorothea."

Edelgard called Hubert and Dorothea over to the west side of the fountain. While there was no guarantee that anyone in the nearby houses wouldn't listen in on them, the cascading water provided a soothing backdrop for their conversation to help them appear less suspicious or intimidating. "Hubert and I want to find out if Constance can tell us anything about the attack," she said. "I suggest we search the houses closest to the outer edge of town…preferably somewhere with a lot of trees."

"Why trees, Edie?" asked Dorothea.

"You'll find out soon."

Together, they walked back toward the scene of their big battle, looking at houses near the forested section of town. After asking around some more, they found their way to a house underneath one of the largest oak trees. Edelgard, certain that Constance would be at home, knocked on the door and awaited an answer.

"Who's there?"

"It's Edelgard von Hresvelg from the Officers Academy. Does Constance von Nuvelle live here?"

"Lady Edelgard?! I was not expecting company today, so please allow me a moment to tidy up."

"There will be no need for that," said Hubert. "We would like to ask you some questions, Constance, and time is of the essence. If you would step outside for a moment, we can—"

Before Hubert could finish his request, Constance pulled her door open but chose not to step out any further than she needed to. "No, no, that'll be quite alright. Please, come in."

Dorothea looked at Edelgard and shrugged as she realized why the princess wanted them to search for houses covered by trees. Hubert wrote down a note regarding Constance's reluctance to go outside as she led the trio to the table in the center of the room. One of Constance's advanced magic theory books lay face-down on the tablecloth, and she put it back on the bookshelf before inviting them to sit down. "May I offer any of you a snack?" she asked.

"No, thank you," said Edelgard. "We've already eaten."

There was only enough room at the table for Constance and one guest to sit down, so they agreed only to allow whoever was asking questions to sit in the guest chair. Edelgard sat down first, with Hubert looking over her right shoulder and Dorothea looking over her left.

"Constance," said Edelgard, "I ask that you please answer our questions as honestly as you possibly can. Let's start with this one: did you hear the church's alarm bells sounding when the monsters attacked?"

"I might have," Constance replied. "This house is so far away from the monastery that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the standard hourly chimes from alarm bells."

"I see. How did you know to respond to the attack?"

"From all the screaming, of course. A few of the Knights of Seiros were yelling for everyone to stay inside their homes when the first pack of wolves showed up."

"Did you comply with the order?"

"Yes, I did…at first, but then I reconsidered when more of the monsters closed in." Constance looked around the room and pointed to the windows in front of her and to her right. Edelgard and Hubert noticed that the curtains to both windows were closed despite it still being in the middle of the afternoon. "Had any of those brutes broken through the windows or that door, I would be almost completely at their mercy. There is barely enough room in this house for me to fight off anything with a sword, much less my magic."

"You still went outside despite the danger?" Edelgard tried to phrase her question carefully to avoid directly bringing up Constance's distaste for sunlight.

"I was left with no other option. I could not simply sit around and hide while the townsfolk were in danger! After assessing the situation and casting aside my doubts, I left my home in search of someone to assist."

"Was that around the time you noticed our class?" asked Dorothea as she switched places with Edelgard.

"Not quite. I had been helping some of the knights fight a pack of wolves in another part of town earlier. Trust me when I say that it was more harrowing than it looked."

"How did you know to find us? It was pretty chaotic out there."

"I initially assumed that those wolves were the end of it all, but then I heard the most frightful howling noise. _That_ was when I noticed Monica and Lady Edelgard battling that giant monster and decided to offer my assistance. I assumed that if that beast were defeated, it would stop any new ones from appearing."

"Did you see anything else unusual before or during the battle?"

"No, not at all. As if the sudden appearance of wild wolves and winged creatures wasn't strange enough… Any other fiend would have stuck out even further. I highly doubt that anyone wanting to take advantage of the chaos would have been so sloppy as to publicly announce their presence."

Hubert leaned over to Edelgard and whispered in her ear. "Lady Edelgard, may I see you outside for a moment?"

Edelgard nodded and quietly followed Hubert outside, standing a few feet away from the large oak tree so that neither Dorothea nor Constance could overhear them. "What is it, Hubert?" she asked.

"Do you not find it strange?" Hubert asked back. "A sudden influx of monsters, one almost the size of the house, and not another soul on the battlefield to be found, except for us and the Knights of Seiros."

"It is quite unusual. Wolves that size don't come naturally."

"Nor do they attack towns with the sheer numbers that these ones did. The largest one might have done so alone, but it would have taken someone with a lot of magical power to guide that many at once."

Hubert took a quick look back toward Constance's house to verify that the curtains were still closed. "The timing of Constance's arrival on the scene is another point of concern," he added. "How far away would she have been to find us only when we were fighting the beasts' leader?"

"There were more monsters out there than the ones we fought," said Edelgard. "It's unfortunate, but a few of those wolves got away from us. They're probably not the ones Constance said she fought considering how close she lives to the town limits."

"I'd like to find out what sort of magic she appears to be studying. She would be better served putting such talents toward a higher purpose than hiding in the shadows, stewing away in a secluded corner of town."

When Edelgard and Hubert returned to the house, Constance was the only one sitting at the table as Dorothea had gone into the washroom to fix her hair.

"She's all yours, Hubie," said Dorothea, humming to herself as she brushed the last strands of her hair and put her hat back on. Constance sang a similar wordless tune to herself but quieted down as soon as Hubert took his seat.

"You seem to be in high spirits, Constance," said Hubert. The lack of a smile on his face did not deter Constance from smiling.

"Dorothea and I were having a lively discussion on magic and music," said Constance. "I really must partake in this opera house of hers one day."

"That will have to wait for another time. Let us get back to the discussion at hand. We have reason to believe that magic was involved in the demonic beast invasion. You have a wide selection of magic tomes on your bookshelf...and quite complicated ones at that."

"I believe it is always important to keep one's skills sharp. The School of Sorcery has taught me much, but I must continue to refine and enhance my spellcrafting if House Nuvelle is to one day take its place among the great noble houses of Fódlan! This, of course, includes studying varied magic-related topics."

"Would any of those topics include instructions on summoning monsters and setting them loose on 'soft targets' such as towns or villages?"

"No!" said Constance, frowning and scowling at Hubert. "Such pointless cruelty is unbefitting of a mage of my caliber!"

Hubert, unfazed by Constance's sharp response, glared back at her. "Is that so? There is a tendency for those who seek power to abuse it for their own ends. How can I be sure you will not fall into that same trap?"

"Power for its own sake holds no appeal to me. I know the fleeting nature of power as well as anyone. While my primary objective is to rebuild my house, if I am not able to share the fruits of my magical knowledge for the benefit of the people, then all my years of studying will have been for naught!"

Constance started to calm down, believing she had proven her innocence to Hubert, who continued to fill his notepad with short notes from their interview until he had one-and-a-half pages of material. "I have no further questions," he said. "Dorothea? Lady Edelgard?"

Both girls shook their heads.

"I think we should have enough information to go on," said Edelgard. "Thank you, Constance. You were a great help."

Constance suppressed a grimace as she tried to figure out how a visit from Edelgard took such a weird turn. "Glad to be of service..."

As Edelgard and her friends left Constance's house to return to the monastery, Dorothea looked at Hubert and held her right palm out as if she was going to slap him in the head. "Really, Hubie? Did you really accuse Constance of planning the attack? Even after she helped us defeat that big demonic beast?"

"It was not a direct accusation," said Hubert. "I merely examined the evidence at my disposal, and that lead brought me to her. With no clear culprit, no one is above suspicion, not even our allies."

Dorothea brought her hand down and relaxed. "That's a dour way of looking at things, Hubie. Does any of your 'evidence' point to Constance as one of the perpetrators?"

"No…no, it doesn't."

"I didn't think so."

"Constance may no longer be a student of the Officers Academy," said Edelgard, "but it would be unwise for us to ignore her potential. You agree with that much, don't you, Hubert?"

"That is why I believe we should exercise caution when seeking her aid," said Hubert. "Someone with that much passion for magic must not be allowed to fall into the hands of our enemies. We must also be assured that her strengths outweigh her weaknesses and other…eccentricities. Did you notice how Constance was reluctant to step outside to greet us? Or how she kept her curtains tightly shut even before we arrived?"

"I'd normally attribute it to shyness, but she was more than happy to talk to us once we were all indoors. It was the same on the day of the monster invasion – she was very grumpy when we were fighting outside together, but she felt more comfortable once we returned to the monastery."

"The Constance we spoke to just a few minutes ago seems far removed from the one who joined us in the monster attack. One has to wonder why sunlight seems to bring that side out of her."

Edelgard led everyone through the main hall, walking past the knights and monks as quickly as possible to avoid interrupting their work. "I'll go on ahead and report our findings to the Professor," she said.

"Somehow, I don't feel like we got much out of our little trip," said Dorothea.

"We may not have received any definitive answers from Constance, but we did learn something that might help us. Even though she says there was no one on the scene when the monsters attacked, the culprit had to have hidden somewhere nearby to direct the demonic beast to attack the town. Ferdinand's team might find their hiding place in pursuit of the beasts' tracks."

"Let's hope they don't run into any ambushes…"

Before going into the cathedral to visit Byleth's office, Edelgard asked to borrow Hubert's notes to make sure they matched up with the questions she and Dorothea asked. While Hubert did not hand over his whole notebook, he tore out the two pages he wrote on and allowed Edelgard to borrow them as long as she returned the papers to him immediately after she was finished. His instincts compelled him to follow her, but he chose to hold off their discussion until later and return to his room to finish his homework for Friday's class. Dorothea, who didn't have any assignments to complete for Friday, went back to her room to take a nap.

* * *

Between her time recovering and eating meals in the dining hall, Monica had written two letters – one to Baron Ochs and another to Constance – and sealed them in envelopes ready to be mailed out. She felt well enough to go outside after a dose of Manuela's medicine made her aches and pains go away. There wasn't much time for her to reach the courier before the last delivery of the day, so she raced to the market to beat the seven-o'clock bell. When she handed her letter to the courier as he emptied the mailbox to fill his bag, Dorothea walked by, stomping her feet and balling up her fists. Monica looked over her shoulder and decided to approach cautiously. "Dorothea? What's the matter?"

"Another day, another disastrous date, that's what!" Dorothea grumbled.

"How bad was it?"

Dorothea pulled Monica off to the side and away from the guards standing watch at the main hall entrance. "Okay, so maybe 'disastrous' is a bit strong. It got your attention, though, didn't it? Anyway, it started well enough. I was having dinner with this guy…says he's the son of a minor lord near Caspar's territory and likes playing the harp in his spare time. So far, so good… He enjoys music, I enjoy music…I thought we were on the verge of developing a connection."

"That doesn't sound too bad," said Monica, wondering when the 'disaster' part would kick in. "What happened next?"

"Well, all throughout our date, I thought I could hear laughter in the background and rustling behind the bushes. I'm looking around, wondering if someone was going to jump out and attack us. It turns out that he had brought his friends along with him so that he could brag to them about going out with me. He wasn't interested in _me_ at all!"

"If his father's anything like him or his friends, it's definitely not worth it. I'm glad you made it out of there with your dignity intact."

Dorothea and Monica walked over to the greenhouse, with Dorothea hoping that admiring its extensive collection of flowers would help her take her mind off her unfortunate date. "So, Monica…were you about to head out on a date, too?" she asked.

"Not tonight," said Monica. "I just went to drop off some letters for my father and Connie."

"You know, I talked to Constance earlier today. She sounded like she could use a pick-me-up."

"Why? Did something happen? Connie's not hurt, is she?"

"No, she's not injured or anything. We wanted to get some information about last month's incident, and Hubie thought she might have had something to do with it."

Monica wanted to follow Dorothea's example and stomp toward Hubert's room to yell at him, but the most she could do without making a scene was take a few quick deep breaths to keep her anger from boiling over. She had only met Constance a week after joining the Black Eagles but had no reason to suspect her of being a traitor.

"I hope she's not upset at us for asking those questions," said Dorothea. "Maybe once she hears from you, she might cheer up a bit."

"I hope so, too."

Monica walked out of the greenhouse clutching her head. Suddenly, she felt like _she_ needed another pick-me-up.


	23. The One That Almost Got Away

While Monica and Edelgard's teams completed their portions of the investigation, Ferdinand's team followed a faint trail of monster prints and bird feathers to a forest west of the monastery. The unsettling silence was occasionally broken by wing beats and the rattling of branches above and around them.

"Hey, Ferdinand," said Caspar, looking around at the dirt-covered trail as their surroundings gradually darkened. "Don't you think we ought to return to the monastery? It's getting pretty late."

"Caspar," whispered Petra, "you must use quietness. We have almost reached the conclusion of the trail, but opportunities for danger are many. We cannot be allowing our enemies to hear us."

Ferdinand pointed to a set of four-toed footprints to his left, spaced almost twice as far apart as his own prints and running in the opposite direction they were traveling. "There do not appear to be any more bird feathers," he whispered, "but I do not remember seeing these footprints earlier. Where do you think they came from? And where do they lead?"

"This is definitely complicating things. I have certainty that the beasts we are following came from this forest. These prints have some freshness, but we cannot be knowing where they are leading unless we abandon our search to follow them."

Caspar pointed downfield to a trio of flickering yellow-orange lights to his right. He couldn't tell if they were coming from torches, but for a moment, he thought he saw three men in dark robes approaching their position. "What do you think they're looking for?" he asked his friends. "I hope it's not us."

"Let's not give them a chance to find out," said Ferdinand. He crouched down and sidestepped toward a large boulder off the trail, and he signaled for Caspar and Petra to follow him before the robed men noticed them. They knew it would only buy them a few moments before their footprints were discovered, but it was their only shot at finding out more information about the monster attack.

"Are you sure we'll find her if we keep going this way?" said one of the men.

"It's probably just a rumor," said another, "but we can't discount the chance that there might be some truth to it. If it isn't, then where else do you think she would go?"

Ferdinand waited for the robed men to continue talking to learn who they were looking for, but they kept quiet as one of them stopped several feet short of the rock upon seeing Ferdinand's tracks.

"We'd best be careful, brothers," said the third man. "We're not alone."

Two of the wanderers reached for the swords on their belts while the third raised his staff and swept it in an arc in front of him, causing one of the lights to move around with it. The light floated over the boulder Ferdinand, Caspar, and Petra were hiding behind, prompting the men to close in on them with their weapons drawn. Despite the light shining brightly above all of them, Ferdinand couldn't clearly see any of the wanderers' faces as they insisted on keeping them concealed with their robes.

"A bit late for you kids to be bumbling around in a forest like this, isn't it?" said one of the swordsmen, whom Ferdinand wanted to call "Saber 1" for the cavalry saber he wielded. His partner, "Saber 2", held a blade that more closely resembled a naval cutlass, but there was little else about him that suggested he was a sailor or a pirate.

The students stood up with their arms raised. When Saber 2 reached for Ferdinand's lance after it fell to the ground, Ferdinand stomped on it to hold it in place.

"I would advise against doing that," said Ferdinand. "We did not come here seeking out a confrontation, but we will defend ourselves if necessary."

"Then you must understand our position as well, for we too must protect ourselves," said the staff-wielder, whom he codenamed "Sage". "If it is not bloodshed you seek, then it is in your best interest to leave this forest immediately and forget you saw us."

"You're just going to attack us and demand we get out without telling us what _you're_ doing here and where _you're_ going? That hardly seems fair," said Caspar.

Saber 2 lowered his sword once he perceived that the students were less threatening than he expected. "How would we know you wouldn't try to sabotage us or slow us down if we told you?" he said. "We've wasted enough time talking to you kids already."

"Yeah. Let's get out of here," said Saber 1.

The three robed men walked away from the rock and continued following the non-human footprints out of the forest, with the two swordsmen holding their torches in front of them so they could see where they were going while Sage kept his magical light behind him to deter stalkers.

"I am not liking the sound of this," said Petra.

"Me neither," said Caspar. "Those robed guys are looking for someone, and it looks like they're headed toward the monastery. We have to go after them!"

"If they are seeking to stir up trouble, then they will not get very far with the knights on duty," said Ferdinand. "We only came here to determine where the demonic beast and its cohorts came from. Any further exploration will have to wait until after we report to the Professor."

Ferdinand, Caspar, and Petra followed several steps behind Sage and the two Sabers, sticking to traveling beneath the trees until they got out of the forest to lower the chance of anyone else tracking them. They managed to stay just far enough out of the wanderers' sight to avoid getting stopped again until they were forced out into the open plains. By the time they reached the monastery, the wanderers were stopped at the gate and argued with the two guards stationed there.

"I hope you realize that you and your archbishop have made a grave mistake," said Sage, who had removed his hood to reveal a head with a full brown mustache and a thin, receding hairline. He and his two still-hooded companions walked off to the south as the guards watched on.

Byleth, who was waiting by the blacksmith's workshop to get the Sword of the Creator repaired, walked over to investigate. "What seems to be the problem?" she asked.

"Er…nothing, Professor!" said the guard to her left, who was clutching her spear tightly and ready to strike. "We just had to tell those three _gentlemen_ that they weren't allowed to see Lady Rhea at this time of night. One of them got snippy when we asked them to identify themselves, so I had to _kindly_ ask them to leave."

"Is that all?"

"Now that I think about it," said the guard to her right, "it sounds like it has something to do with the story about—wait, hold on, someone else is coming. I'll tell you in a minute."

The guard on the right stepped to his right to allow Ferdinand, Caspar, and Petra to enter.

"Did you guys find anything?" asked Byleth.

Ferdinand took the handkerchief from his pocket and used it to wipe the grass stains from his shirt and shoes. "We believe that the monsters came from somewhere in the forest to the west," he said, "but we were unable to proceed any further due to the darkness."

"While we were searching, we had also encountered these men who were wearing hoods and dark clothing," said Petra.

"So, you saw them too, huh?" said the second guard.

"Yeah," said Caspar. "They thought we were going to attack them, so they tried to attack us. Well, at least they were _going_ to… They said they were in a hurry, and we wound up following them back here."

"Oh, yeah! I remember now… Those guys were talking about some young woman from up north who had wandered toward the monastery recently. I heard a rumor that one night, she was being followed by two, maybe three, demonic beasts almost half the size of the ones we fought. The monsters got away from her and tore up a town, killing almost two dozen people!"

Reports from the attack on the monastery varied between a half-dozen and three dozen deaths, with many more injuries and hundreds of thousands of gold coins in property damage. Byleth was less concerned about the reliability of the numbers than she was about someone running around with demonic beasts at their command.

"This girl you speak of…who is she, and what happened to her after the monsters got loose?" asked the professor.

The first guard turned to her right with her back against the arch so she could still see everything coming in and out of the gate. "To answer those questions out of order," she said, "once the monsters were killed and the damage was contained, some of the local knights tried to arrest the girl. I don't know what happened after that, though. What did those guys say her name was? Harpy? Hippy? Hoppy?"

"Hapi," the second guard calmly corrected.

"'Happy'? No, that can't be right. That doesn't sound like a summoner's name at all!"

"I don't think I've heard that name before," said Byleth. "I'll ask Captain Jeralt if he knows something. Thank you for the report."

The two gate guards held their right hands to their chest plates and bowed in salute. Byleth turned to Ferdinand and the others and guided them toward the fishing pond. "I think this is as much information as we'll get on this mission," she said. "Tell everyone else that class is postponed until Saturday. We'll meet in the classroom for a special session early that morning to discuss our next move."

"Yes, Professor," said Ferdinand.

Caspar and Petra, who were used to showing up at the classroom building every weekday and some Saturdays without fail, looked at each other and shrugged before waving to their teacher and returning to their rooms. Byleth, meanwhile, walked back to her office as quickly as possible, waving to any students she passed along the way. Once inside, she closed the door behind her and waited for Sothis to reappear.

_A person capable of handling and commanding giant beasts… I have heard rumors of such tales from long ago, but…can someone like that still exist in this day and age?_

"It wouldn't surprise me," said Byleth. "Do you think this young woman – Hapi, they called her – has something to do with our mission?"

_Until we learn more about her, I cannot say for certain. If what those robed men said was true, then she may be somewhere in or around the monastery._

"Then we'd better prepare ourselves in case they try something."

Almost as quickly as she appeared, Sothis blinked out of sight when Jeralt entered the room, coat slung over his left shoulder with the right sleeve hanging off his back. "Hey, kid," he said. "You've been pretty busy this week, haven't you?"

"Yeah," said Byleth as she sat down on the bed in the alcove next to her desk, which was only visible from the hallway if one opened the office door to just the right angle. She wasn't ready to go to bed yet, but the softness of the mattress tempted her to think otherwise.

"Ever consider taking a day off?"

"Actually, I just did, but not because of this. I think I'm getting close to solving this mystery and want to get it done before we get attacked again." A few seconds after Byleth slipped out of her boots, she felt a lot more comfortable. "There we some strange men at the gate tonight looking for someone by the name of Hapi. Have you heard of her?"

"'Fraid not. What's this all about, huh?"

"Something about her following or being followed by monsters and one of them turning loose and killing a bunch of people."

Jeralt gave Byleth a frustrated sigh. "This situation just got a whole lot messier. If she really is that dangerous, it wouldn't surprise me if Rhea or the knights were keeping her locked up somewhere 'for her protection and ours'."

"If that's the case, where do you think she's being held?" she asked.

"Beats me. Don't stress yourself out over it right now, though. Why not use your day off to go fishing with me and Leonie? She's got a big trip coming up, too, and I think it might do her some good to decompress before she heads out. Plus, it'll give the three of us a chance to bond more and forget about all this school stuff for a moment."

"That sounds like a great idea."

Jeralt smiled at Byleth and gave her a hug before watching her curl up underneath the blanket. The bed was too small for him to comfortably lie in, but it was just the right size for his daughter. To ensure he didn't wake up with a stiff neck every morning, he kept a sleeping bag behind the bookshelves and rolled it out on the floor when he was ready to turn in for the night. He unrolled the bag in front of Byleth's desk, leaving just enough room for her to walk out in case she woke up before him. "Good night, kid," he said.

"Good night, Father."


	24. There's Always a Catch

With no classes to worry about on Friday morning, Monica stayed in the dining hall for a few extra hours after breakfast. She forgot to ask Linhardt about his favorite flavor of ice cream, so she didn't know what to request when it came time to prepare his birthday desserts. The head chef allowed her to help bake a cake to make up for it, for they both know that cakes paired well with ice cream regardless of flavor.

"Ooh! That cake looks delicious, Monica!" Annette squealed as she walked by the counter to see Monica applying the last bit of vanilla frosting. "Can I have a piece?"

"Not yet," said Monica. "We're saving it until Linhardt takes the first slice. Have you seen him?"

Annette murmured to herself, blinked a few times, and then said, "Oh, I get it! Today's his birthday! I think I saw him in the garden a few minutes ago."

"Thanks, Annette! I'll be right back."

Monica went out to inspect the hedge maze and the two gazebos but didn't find Linhardt until another student pointed her toward the dorms. As much as she wanted to steer him toward the dining hall to get his cake right away, she wanted to try to convince him to visit Bernadetta's room first. "Happy birthday, Linhardt!" she chirped, walking with her hands behind her back and trying to match Linhardt's slow-paced stroll.

"Monica! I'm surprised that you knew," said Linhardt. "I'm also wondering why you're walking like that when it doesn't look like you're carrying anything."

"Oh! Uh, um…well, I…" Monica dropped her hands to the sides, proving Linhardt right. "I _did_ make something for you, but since you're headed in this direction anyway, let's go see what Bernadetta's up to.

"All right…this had better be worth it."

Monica darted ahead and knocked on Bernadetta's door. "Hello? Bernadetta? Are you in there?" she asked.

After a bit of shuffling around, Bernadetta answered, twisting the doorknob slightly. "Monica?"

"Yeah, it's me. Linhardt's on his way, too."

"Perfect! Just give me a minute, okay?"

The door clicked shut for another moment while Monica waited for Linhardt to catch up to her. Just as he arrived, Bernadetta opened the door and handed him a teddy bear with a green letter "L" stitched into its chest. "Happy birthday!" she said, sounding more fearful than excited when Linhardt examined the bear, with her hoping that he wouldn't find anything to criticize about her newest creation. When she saw him cuddling it, she smiled a little.

"His fur feels a little prickly," said Linhardt, "but I think he'll still make a good bedside companion. Thank you for the gift, Bernadetta."

"A little p—" Bernadetta had to stop putting herself down when she realized that Linhardt liked his new bear. "Oh! Uh…I mean, you're welcome."

"This is pretty good, Bernie," said Monica. "I'm impressed! Maybe we should leave you alone to 'study' more often."

Linhardt tucked the teddy bear under his right armpit and looked at Monica. "Now, you said you had also prepared something for me, did you not?"

"Yeah! Well, I wanted to get you some ice cream," she said, "but I don't know how to make that, and I don't know what flavor of ice cream you like, so I helped make you a cake instead."

"All is forgiven…for now," he replied, grinning at the prospect of free birthday cake. "Will you come join us, Bernadetta?"

"Maybe just this once," said Bernadetta, not telling either of them just how long she planned on staying out of her room.

When Monica and the others returned to the dining hall, Byleth, Leonie, and Jeralt had joined Annette in the cake line. She had expected her teacher to show up because it was part of her duty to remember her students' birthdays, but she wondered what Leonie and Jeralt were doing with her.

"Hey there, birthday boy!" said Annette. "Got any words for us before you take the first slice of cake?"

"Today _has_ to be a big deal if you can even get Bernadetta out of her room," said Leonie.

Almost everyone laughed, with Bernadetta, understanding that Leonie wasn't trying to be mean to her, joining in later.

"In the interest of keeping things short and sweet – no pun intended," Linhardt said after everyone quieted down, "I'd just like to say 'thank you' to everyone for coming out here today. Honesty, I wasn't expecting so many of you to show up."

"That just means you've got lots of friends here," said Annette, "and that can never be a bad thing."

Linhardt took the knife sitting by the cake stand and cut the cake into twelve slices – more than enough for the crowd in attendance.

"Would you like some cake, Father?" asked Byleth as she took a pair of small dishes and passed one toward him.

After thinking about it for a second, Jeralt took one of the nearby forks and accepted his slice of cake. "Sure. No point in wasting a good party."

They all sat down at the table by the door leading to the fishing pond, with Jeralt taking the seat closest to the door so he could see how full the pond was before going out.

"How does it look out there, Captain?" asked Leonie.

"There's just a few other kids out there," said Jeralt. "Looks like they're almost done, so we can go out there once we're finished eating."

Annette was the first to finish her cake. She quickly moved to wipe some frosting from the side of her mouth when Linhardt pointed it out. "Hey, Monica… Do you mind if I take an extra slice of this for Mercie?" she asked. "She _loves_ baking cakes and cookies, and I bet she'll like this, too."

"Go for it!" said Monica. She looked around the dining hall to see if Mercedes had entered but went back to eating her cake when she didn't recognize anyone else in the room.

"Captain Jeralt, Leonie, and I are going to go fishing for a little while after this," said Byleth. "Would any of you like to join us?"

"Sorry, Professor," said Annette. "I promised Dimitri I'd help him take inventory before we headed out on our mission. Maybe next time?"

"I think I'll pass, too," said Bernadetta. "I don't know the first thing about fishing!"

"Fishing can be quite enjoyable once you've settled into a groove," said Linhardt. "Even if you don't catch anything, the sound of flowing water can be very calming."

"What about you, Monica?" asked Leonie. "Do you want to give it a try?"

Monica nodded, uncomfortable with saying anything with a mouthful of cake.

Everyone stacked their plates and napkins in a small column at the end of the table for the cleaning staff to handle. Leonie wanted to help with the cleaning, but she wondered if it would be better to let them handle it to make sure it got done correctly.

After Annette and Bernadetta left, the rest of the group walked outside to the pond. The other students had completed their fishing runs, and the only one standing by the pond was a man wearing heavy steel plate armor with his left pauldron much larger than the one on his right shoulder. He was so surprised to see Jeralt with so many students that he almost fell backward into the water.

"Come on, Alois," said Jeralt. "You know this water's no good for bathing."

Alois stood up, tried to steady himself, and then stepped a few feet away from the pond's edge to avoid taking another spill. "Of course not, Captain," he said. "I was just inspecting the water to see how many fish there were before I took my turn, that's all."

"You don't have to call me 'Captain' anymore. Catherine's in charge now."

"I wouldn't think of doing such a thing! Not after all the years we've served together." Alois turned and waved to Byleth and the students accompanying her. "Ah! Good morning, Professor. I see you've assembled quite the party here."

"You…could say that," said Byleth. "I'm sure you've already met Leonie, but have you met Linhardt or Monica yet?"

"I don't believe I have," said Alois. He reached out his hand for them to shake, trying not to apply too much pressure. "I'm Alois, Knight of Seiros. I have no doubt in my mind that you two will be in good hands with the daughter of the great 'Blade Breaker' watching over you."

"Pleased to meet you," said Monica. "Is Jeralt really that strong?"

"Only one of the best! Why, I once watched him fell six thieves with a single swing of his poleaxe! I would say those dastards barely knew what hit 'em, but the ones that survived barely had enough time to pick up their swords and turn tail."

"That sounds amazing! Do you think we'll get to see something like that for ourselves?"

"Not likely," said Jeralt. "When you've been fighting as long as I have, the smart ones know to run the other way when they see me coming."

There were more than enough fishing rods for everyone to borrow. Byleth challenged the others to see who could catch the biggest fish using the same bait, following the same rules as Seteth's fishing competition during the previous moon. To ensure that there was enough time for others to use the pond, each person would be given two attempts of ten minutes each, with the larger of the two catches counting.

Alois cast his rod into the pond first while the others baited their hooks with fresh earthworms. His first catch, a simple white trout, came to him with little trouble. He struggled a bit more on his second attempt, only to become disappointed when he pulled up a tiny Airmid goby. "For all that work, I thought I was this close to catching the big one," he said.

"Don't worry, Alois…you'll get 'em next time," said Byleth. "It's my turn now." She cast her line and smiled when the bobber made a satisfying "plop" sound as it hit the water.

"Have you done this often, Professor?" asked Monica. "It looks like it comes so naturally to you."

Byleth pulled a white trout out of the water and showed it off to everyone before tossing it back in. "My father and I used to fish a lot when I was younger. I remember catching my first fish when I was 12. I didn't really get good at it until after I turned 15. My least favorite part was gutting and cooking everything we caught."

"You get used to it after a while," said Leonie. "My dad taught me how to fish when I was little, too. I wanted to learn how to use a bow so I could help him hunt, but he told me I was too young, and he promised to show me when I got older. He taught me some of the basics, but I had to wait until I enrolled at the Officers Academy to refine my technique. After I met Captain Jeralt, I also took some lance training so that I wouldn't be defenseless if I ran out of arrows."

"Hmm…this one isn't as big as the herring I caught for Flayn," Byleth said to herself, eyeing the Albinean herring dangling from her hook. "but it'll do. Too bad we can't keep it."

Jeralt surveyed the water for about a minute and decided that he would have better luck catching a good fish by standing off to the side of the dock.

"Hey, Leonie…how did you and Captain Jeralt first meet, anyway?" asked Monica. "Was he here when you first enrolled at the academy?"

"Actually, I first saw him a few years before that. He helped us settle a dispute with some poachers who had been encroaching on my village and stealing our main source of food and clothing. When I saw him fight, that was when I decided I wanted to follow in his footsteps."

"Oh! That means you must also have met my teacher well before anyone else! You're pretty lucky."

"Unfortunately," said Byleth as she tried to sit on one of the dock's wooden posts, "I couldn't make the trip with my father that day."

"What happened?" Monica and Leonie both asked.

Byleth spun around on the post she was sitting on, briefly looking at her father as he complained about fishing yet another "damned" white trout out of the pond. "I was bedridden for days with a fever," she said. "It was the first time I remember being that ill. It was terrible."

"This is the first time I've heard a story like this from you, Professor," said Linhardt.

"It's not very exciting, I know. My father kept that part a secret from everyone outside my unit. The mystique of the 'Ashen Demon' would lose a lot of its bite if word got out that I missed a big battle because I 'had the flu.'"

Jeralt was more satisfied with the second fish he caught – an Airmid pike that was a few inches longer than the trout he tossed back into the water. He wondered whether the pond was naturally teeming with trout or if he, Byleth, and Alois unknowingly caught the _same_ fish. "There was no way I was going to let you out there in your condition," he said. "If your mother were still with us, she'd never forgive me if you went out there and wound up dying because you weren't at 100 percent. I'd never be able to forgive myself, either."

Leonie stepped up to the pier and cast her rod into the pond next. A moment after she felt a bite, her fishing rod lurched forward, with her catch determined to finish its meal even if it meant dragging her into the water. "Oh no, you don't, you fishy freak!" she shouted.

Alois ran behind Leonie and prepared to catch her in case she lost control of the fish. "That's it, Leonie! Show that fish who's boss!"

Leonie tried her best to stay grounded during her tug-of-war with the fish on her hook. After spending about a minute fighting to prevent her line from snapping, she triumphantly pulled a Teutates pike from the water to a short round of applause from her peers. "That one was a real pain," she said. "I think it's the biggest fish I've ever caught."

"It's certainly the biggest one _I've_ seen today," said Linhardt.

"This pond seems to attract fish from all over Fódlan," said Byleth. "Sometimes, I wonder how they all end up here."

Leonie's second fishing attempt netted her an Airmid pike, which felt like a letdown after she struggled with the Teutates pike. After handing her fishing rod over to the man standing by the booth, she sat down on one of the posts at the back of the pier and waited for Linhardt to take his turn. "Do you still talk to your dad a lot, Monica?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Monica. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering why your mother wasn't there with him when we traveled to Drachen Village last month. Did something bad happen to her? Or something bad between the two of you?"

Monica looked out toward the pond as she watched Linhardt fish. "You know… I hadn't really thought about it when we went up there," she admitted. "I was so focused on meeting my father again that I completely forgot to ask where my mother was. A few days after we returned from that mission, he wrote to me and told me that Mother had been staying overnight at her uncle's house a few towns away, and she didn't learn that I'd stopped by to visit until after we'd already left."

"Oof… Talk about bad timing."

The sound of the fish swimming around in the pond didn't provide the calming effect Monica hoped it would. She did, however, get a chuckle out of watching Linhardt's pike try to wriggle out of his hands after he caught it.

"It was my mother's idea to send me to the Officers Academy in the first place," said Monica. "She wanted me to get the best education possible, and it was much closer than the best schools near the capital."

"Have you ever been to Enbarr yourself, Monica?" asked Linhardt.

"I might have visited it once when I was little, but I can't remember anything about that trip."

"The first day after my father, Count Hevring, was appointed to lead the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, he invited me to his office at the Imperial Palace. I can only assume it was decorated so lavishly to distract him from how boring and stressful his day-to-day work must be. There was some upside to the visit, though – later on that day, we toured the Grand Library, which I'm told has one of the largest book selections in all of Fódlan."

"Sounds like my kind of place!"

"I should warn you," said Linhardt, gently tugging on his fishing rod to pull up another pike, "it's quite easy to get lost in there. Allegedly, someone went in there to look for books on Crests and wasn't discovered for two whole days. It's probably just a rumor, though."

Monica chuckled again, thinking that Linhardt was talking about himself without saying so directly. After he left the fishing area to sit down on the steps with his teddy bear, it was her turn to step up to the edge of the pier to see if she could beat Leonie's catch. "Alright… I can do this," she said to herself. "Time to finish strong."

Monica tried to cast her line into the pond, but Leonie's laughter distracted her, throwing off her aim and causing the bobber to land only a few feet in front of her.

"What? Did I say something funny?"

"Sorry, sorry… I'm so used to hearing jokes and puns like that from Alois," said Leonie.

Alois, who had moved next to Jeralt to chat with him and Byleth while the others took their turns, picked up on it and laughed along with Leonie. "That does sound like something I would say," he said. "Now I'm starting to wish I _had_ said it."

Monica waited for Alois and Leonie to stop laughing before casting again. This time, her reel shot straight ahead as far as it could go. When she pulled her catch out of the water, she was appalled by the large, long-mouthed fish she had picked up. "What is this thing?!" she cried.

"Looks like you caught yourself a genuine Caledonian gar," Jeralt said with a laugh. "With the right seasoning and garnish, one of those could feed a family of six."

Monica shot another disgusted look at her catch before throwing it back into the pond. "I certainly hope it tastes better than it looks."

"I wish we didn't have to toss these fish back into the pond as soon as we catch them," Leonie argued.

"There'll be plenty more opportunities to catch fish that we can keep," said Byleth. "Captain Jeralt and I just wanted us to get out here so we can all unwind before taking our next big trips."

"I guess I feel a _little_ more relaxed after this. I just don't want to be lulled into a false sense of security. I've never been to the Eastern Church before, so I don't know what to expect."

"That sounds almost like what I heard from Hilda," said Monica. "She didn't sound too stressed about it, though. Maybe it's because she has friends there or something."

The final catch of the competition was an Albinean herring, which Monica was less than eager to dispose of than the gar she had caught earlier. Jeralt, Byleth, and Alois only needed a few moments to convene and decide on a winner.

"It looks like you made the catch of the day, Leonie! Congratulations!" said Alois.

Leonie pumped her fist proudly and once again basked in the applause of everyone at the pond. "What can I say? The water was just in my favor today."

"Well done, Leonie," said Linhardt. "Honestly, I didn't have any delusions of catching the biggest fish today. I like to think of this as an extension of my birthday celebration. Thank you for inviting me, Professor."

Just as the group put away their fishing rods and prepared to leave, a voice called out to Leonie from the market area.

"Are you almost done hanging out with the Captain and Teach? We're getting ready to leave soon!"

"Sorry, guys! I gotta run," she said. "Looks like Claude's starting our trip a day earlier than I expected. Wish me luck, everyone! Oh, and thanks for the invite, Professor!"

They waved to Leonie as she raced toward the market to meet the rest of her Golden Deer classmates, panting and groaning all the way.

"So much for keeping calm," said Byleth. "It worked for a little while, anyway. Nobody can say I didn't try."

"Promise me you won't surprise us like that, Professor," said Monica.

"Hey! The last time wasn't my fault. We _all_ got caught off-guard by that bell."

"I should probably be on my way, too," said Alois as he looked toward the steps leading to the market.

"Did you get assigned to the Eastern Church, Alois?" asked Jeralt.

"I was told it would be a one-time assignment, so I should be back within a week or two. Fortunately, the Golden Deer's trip is going to take them through Deirdru. I've always wanted to see the famed 'Aquatic Capital' with my own eyes. It'll make for a great story to tell my wife and daughter when I come back home!"

When she compared her two rival houses' monthly missions, Monica believed that the Golden Deer got the better deal between them. _At least they don't have to worry about walking into the middle of an inferno,_ she thought.

"Well, that sure was fun," she said, stretching her arms and legs so they wouldn't get sore. "I'm going to hit the books for the rest of the day. I think I've mostly recovered from my rematch with Felix, but I don't want to risk hurting myself again before our next outing."

"Okay," said Byleth, "but don't forget that we have a special session tomorrow morning, so remember to wake up bright and early."

"Sure thing, Professor!"

Byleth looked over at Linhardt, who looked like he was ready to take a nap on the steps. "That means you too, Linhardt."

"I'll try, Professor," he replied, "but you may have to send someone to knock on my door a little louder to wake me up now that I have Lyle here."

"'Lyle'? You gave him a name already?" Monica joked, pointing to Linhardt's bear.

"This bear was personalized for me, after all, so it only feels appropriate to give him a name," said Linhardt.

"I'll bet Bernadetta will be even more pleased that you've grown attached to this bear so quickly."

Monica and Linhardt left, thanking Byleth for inviting them out to go fishing with her. Byleth and Jeralt walked back to the classroom area on their way back to their office, with some of the students waving to her as she walked past.

"I've been wondering for a while what Lady Rhea was thinking when she asked you to teach," said Jeralt, "but the kids seem to like you well enough. If only we didn't have to live our lives on the run… I might have enrolled you in school yourself – not a place like this one, but somewhere where you might one day learn to become a real teacher."

"Do you think I'd be good at it?" asked Byleth.

"Of course, I do. You're very bright, and you pick up on things easily. I mean, you've made it more than half a year at this gig without getting reprimanded. Plus, no one's gotten seriously hurt under your watch yet, so you've passed two major tests right there."

"Creating lesson plans feels a lot harder than swinging a sword or a fishing rod around. There's a lot to this job that I know I won't be able to learn in my first year."

"The first year's usually the hardest."

When they returned to the office, Byleth checked the corner behind the bookshelves to ensure her Sword of the Creator was in a safe place. Without a reliable sheath, she leaned it against the wall next to Jeralt's spear so that she knew where to find it before going out on a mission. "Good. I think I'm ready to set out tomorrow," she said.

"If you think you'll need my help with your mission, just let me know," said Jeralt. "Catherine and I are guarding the monastery at the moment, but I can still help you out as long as your journey doesn't take you too far away from here."

"I don't think it will…at least not for now. Something tells me this mission won't end when we set foot in the forest…"


	25. Trouble Afoot

After spending most of the day in the library looking for ways to improve her spellcasting and widen her repertoire, Monica took a trip to the blacksmith's booth to have her sword sharpened in preparation for the next phase of the Black Eagles' mission. Over to her left, she saw Anna packing up her shop for the evening and pulling a scroll out of a large bag. "What do you have there, Anna?" she asked.

"Just reviewing my profit/loss report for the last month," said Anna. "I'm not exactly making a killing, but business has definitely improved after that roadblock earlier. The guild will be happy about this."

"What does that mean for you?"

"It means that as long as there's enough demand for my goods, I don't have to pack up and go elsewhere. This place seems to offer plenty of opportunities for adventure, so there's rarely a shortage of potential customers."

Anna rolled her scroll up and put it back into her bag, which was so stuffed with merchandise that she struggled to stand up straight when she put it on her back.

"That looks pretty heavy," said Monica. "What do you have in there?"

"Books, rings, bracelets…that sort of thing," said Anna.

"Any weapons?"

Anna shook her head, and her bag swayed back and forth along with her. "Nothing here but my sword and dagger. Sure, they're easy to carry around, but they're hardly ideal for a bag like this."

"What about those stones I was looking for? Did you find any?"

Anna led Monica to the other side of the gate and walked several feet away from the guards on duty. As her shop was officially closed, she didn't want anyone else to see her reaching in her bag and pulling out a small, dirty white pouch. "I found these in the nearby forest after work yesterday," she said in a low voice.

Monica looked inside the pouch and saw a pair of dull, pointy, dark purple stones covered in dirt. She didn't know whether or not they were similar to the Crest Stone fragments she found, but she still didn't want to touch them with her bare hands for the sake of testing their authenticity. "Is this all you found?"

"That's it. I didn't even see _these_ ones at first. When I was walking around looking for the stones you wanted, I felt something jab me in the foot. Then I turned around and saw something dark and pointy sticking out of the ground. Ashe noticed it too, and he helped me dig it out."

"Ashe? He's from the Blue Lions, right?" asked Monica. "I don't think I've met him yet."

"Oh, you can't miss him. Grey hair, green eyes, kinda has that 'kid brother' look to him…"

"I'll make sure to thank him for his help when I see him. I have to wonder, though… How did he know you were looking for Crest Stones?"

As far as Monica knew, most missions were exclusive to the house to which they were assigned. There were very few instances of students helping out other houses, except in cases where a mission took place on or around the campus. She thought Ashe would have been too busy preparing for his trip to the Valley of Torment to help deal with the Crest Stone problem.

"I didn't tell him about them right away," said Anna. "It was only when he saw me packing up and heading toward the forest that he asked about it. I didn't know you guys were doing two different things. Of course, I wasn't going to turn down an offer for help, especially when it comes to venturing outside of the monastery."

"Did anyone else see you two?" asked Monica.

"I don't think so. As soon as I found these stones, I got out of there because I still had work to do. Can't keep the customers waiting too long, you know?"

When Anna tried to hand her pouch to Monica, Monica quickly tried to pass it back. "I don't think those would be very safe with me," she warned. "Maybe you should give them to Professor Hanneman or Lady Rhea. They'll know what to do."

"No problem," said Anna. "I'll take care of that tomorrow morning."

"All right. Thanks again for your help, Anna."

Monica helped Anna carry her large bag to an encampment site near the front gate, reserved for her and the other traveling merchants in the market. Of the three tents pitched in the grass, Anna's was the farthest away from the gate, as well as the one with the most bags inside. "Are you sure you'll be able to get a good night's sleep in here? It looks…uncomfortable," said Monica.

"It's no big deal," said Anna as she shoved one of the bags to the side to make room for her merchandise. When Monica spotted something white and lumpy near Anna's sleeping bag, she couldn't tell whether it was just a pillow, or more loot. "It'll be a lot less uncomfortable once I get some of this stuff to storage. I just wish the bank was closer to the monastery, you know?"

Anna slid into her sleeping bag and tried to straighten out as best she could. "There we go."

"I'm going to head back inside now. I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow."

"Watch yourself out there, Monica," said Anna.

"You do the same."

Anna grunted as she slowly got up from what she thought was the perfect sleeping position to close her tent up and secure her goods. She kept the Crest Stone fragment pouch near her pillow as a reminder to take it to Rhea when she woke up.

Back in the safety of her room, Monica checked her closet to make sure her Priest robe and her alternate uniform were both in good shape. She wasn't looking forward to going back out into the wilderness again, but she thought she had a good enough idea of what to expect. She changed out of her uniform and into her pajamas and offered a long prayer of protection – for her Black Eagles classmates, the Blue Lions traveling to the Valley of Torment, the Golden Deer traveling to the Eastern Church, the Knights of Seiros protecting the monastery while all of the houses were away, her parents in Drachen Village tirelessly working on rebuilding their territory, Anna and the traveling merchants, and Constance, who lived close to the edge of town and was in the most danger of getting attacked again.

The next morning after waking up, Monica received a written notice from Byleth to bring her battle gear with her to class. She briefly thought about wearing her robe to the cathedral for another prayer session, but she didn't know how much time she'd have before she would be called over to the classroom.

On her way there, she thought she noticed more knights patrolling the area than usual in the Golden Deer's absence. Catherine stood outside the gate to the training arena with Thunderbrand at her hip, giving instructions to three such knights. "Make sure that there's at least one guard standing watch at every gate," she said, looking at each of them as they stood at attention. "With the Golden Deer on an away mission and the other two houses soon to follow, it's up to us to protect the monastery and Lady Rhea."

"Yes, Captain!" they replied.

The knights walked toward the cathedral to guard the rear entrances, where it would be harder to notice anyone entering or exiting the complex. Catherine walked up to Monica as she approached, wondering why she was dressed for combat. "And where are you headed off to this morning?" she asked.

"This is going to sound weird," said Monica, "but Miss Eisner asked me—er, _us_ to be ready for action as soon as possible."

"Did she now?"

Monica adjusted the sheath on her belt to hide it under her robe until she needed to draw her sword. "Yeah. I don't know what _kind_ of action she's talking about, but I'm as ready as I can be."

"There are only so many scenarios you can prepare for when you're sitting behind a desk. Fortunately for you, your professor is doing a good job, both as a teacher and a commander. Don't tell her I said this, but I still don't understand why Lady Rhea hired her when she and Jeralt both admitted she had no previous teaching experience."

Catherine grunted and folded her hands in frustration. A small pebble rolled by her left foot that, when kicked, flew just short of the walkway to Monica's room. "Sometimes I wish Lady Rhea would let me in on some of the decisions she makes," she continued, "but she must have a good reason for this one."

Monica stopped staring at the pebble that almost hit her door and remembered that she needed to get moving. "Sorry, Captain Catherine… I'd like to stay and talk some more, but I don't want to keep Miss Eisner waiting too long."

"I gotcha. Take care now, okay?"

"Yes, Captain." Monica nodded – a simple gesture of appreciation that wouldn't end in her tripping or smacking herself in the face – and left to join her classmates.

Almost all of the Black Eagles had assembled in the classroom when Monica arrived. The only two to arrive after her were Ferdinand, who had gone to the stables to check on his horse, and Caspar, who had gone to the dining hall to eat some waffles and had to wipe some maple syrup from his face before sitting down. Byleth did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was accounted for and adequately equipped before starting the session. "Before we head out," she said, "I'd like each of the team leaders to share their discoveries with the rest of the class. Edelgard, let's start with your team."

"Thank you, Professor," said Edelgard. "While we were unable to determine the identity or motive of the attackers, we have a pretty good idea of what methods they were using. The demonic beast we fought was given power by one or more Crest Stones. When we fought it, we thought it was summoning more beasts to its side when it howled."

"First appearances can be deceiving," Hubert added. "There is another, simpler explanation – namely that there was someone else out there who wanted it to _look_ like the demonic beast was summoning them."

"So, you're saying it's like a stage magician's trick or something?" asked Caspar.

"Perhaps not in the most literal sense, but the comparison would be correct. With the number of wolves and winged creatures we fought that day, there must have been more than one person out there summoning these monsters from afar to prevent us from discovering them."

"Our foes may have tried to hide from us," said Edelgard, "but the monsters they sent after the town were nowhere near as careful. Monica…"

Monica, who had taken her seat in the back of the classroom and listened to Edelgard and Hubert's report intently, was surprised to be called on so quickly. "Yes?"

"Why don't you tell us what you and your group discovered?"

Monica stood up from her chair, drawing most of the eyes in the room to her. It was the most attention she had received since her first day back at the academy, and it made her nervous all over again. She wished she'd spent more time preparing a presentation. _Lady Edelgard makes it look and sound so easy,_ she thought.

After taking a deep breath, she began her report. "Okay, so when we saw the big Crest Stones sticking out of that…_thing_ we fought, I wondered if there might have been more that we may not have noticed while we were fighting the smaller ones. So Linhardt, Bernadetta, and I swept the town for stones and had them analyzed to see if they were real, and…they were."

Monica kept silent about the stones testing positive for Linhardt and Flayn's Crests, for she still didn't understand what it all meant. She was still waiting to hear from Hanneman about the larger Crest Stone piece Cyril turned over to Rhea. If that one bore the same Crest as the smaller fragments, then she would have a better understanding of what they could do.

"There was another piece lying by the outer gate," she continued. "I think it might have come off the big demonic beast when the Professor struck it with her sword."

The other Black Eagles talked among themselves for a few moments as they tried to process this new information against the other rumors they heard about Crest Stones. Edelgard took another moment to ponder before asking a follow-up question. "Did you venture outside the town to find any of these stones? If there are any more beyond the monastery, then I fear the damage may not be limited to the town."

"We didn't, but Anna did…"

"Anna? How did _she_ find out about them?"

"I asked for her help," said Monica. "I wanted to go further outside than we did, but I knew there was only so much ground we could cover by ourselves."

Ferdinand raised his hand. "Pardon me, Monica, but…where exactly did Anna conduct her search?"

"In the forest. Anna showed me a couple of fragments she found by, uh…'accident'."

"My group followed the trail of monster footprints into that forest. If the stones Anna picked up are similar to the ones your group discovered, then there is no doubt that this is where they came from."

"Then it's settled," said Edelgard. "We should venture into the forest right away and strike before the enemy has a chance to mount a larger-scale attack."

"For once, you and I are in agreement, Edelgard," said Ferdinand. "We must act decisively to prevent any further loss of life. I am concerned about the hooded men we encountered in the forest that night. They refused to answer any questions we were going to ask about the attack."

Monica squeezed on the handle of her shield, quietly anxious with the idea that the mysterious figures she escaped from had somehow found their way toward the monastery. "Something tells me these folks aren't just going to _give_ that information to us," she said. "I just hope we can get what we need without having to kill too many of them."

"Anyone dumb enough to try to pick a fight with us or our professor won't live long enough to regret that mistake," said Caspar. Byleth smiled briefly and then cleared her throat to avoid looking like she was basking too much in his praise of her fighting prowess.

"Is everyone ready?" asked the professor after taking another look around the room.

No one else had anything to say.

"Then let's get moving."


End file.
